Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Relationship of Team Skye
by FyreWatyrSkye
Summary: A male Charmander awakens in the world of Pokémon, confused and memory wiped. Forming an exploration team with a female Chikorita, they find that they feel something more towards each other as they explore the world. A narrated take on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
1. The Human and the Pokemon

**Well, I stumbled across Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky several days ago, and the game inspired me to write about it. I even made a brand new Fanfiction account and everything just for it.**

**Anyways, this is my narrated version of PMD: Explorers of Sky. If you couldn't tell already, it will follow the storyline of my current game: the main character is a male Charmander, his partner is a female Chikorita, and the team name is Skye. Of course, this story would be REALLY boring if I followed the exact storyline, so I'm adding my own... twists. The main twist? Well, I'm sure you can already tell based on the summary and category.**

**By the way, don't understand something or don't know what a Pokémon looks like? Google it. It's there.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything Pokémon-related. For some reason, I need to point that out, even though it's pretty obvious that if somebody posts a story on a site called "FanFiction", than the writer obviously doesn't own anything on what they're writing about.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Human and the Pokémon**

"No! I can't let my fear overcome me anymore! I... I have to do this!" Rita looked up at the imposing building once more. It was somewhat small, the head of Wigglytuff adorning the roof. The house stood on the edge of a cliff, its back facing the edge and the sea.

At the front of the building stood a timid, nervous Chikorita. Her name was Rita.

Rita couldn't remember how many times she had done this, standing outside this building, where her entire future lay.

_Alright, just stay calm,_ Rita made small slow steps towards the floor grating in front of the building, clutching her prized possession with her.

Until at last, she made it to the grating. As she put her first step on the grating...

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" "The footprint is Chikorita's! The footprint is Chikorita's!"

"Aiiieeee!" Rita scuttled backwards quickly. "Oh, I'm fine..." she said quietly to herself, sighing. She looked at her prized possession once more. It was a Relic Fragment. At least, that's what she's been calling it. Every time she looked at the relic, it would remind her of the amazing journeys, the treasures that could await when she would finally be able to form a mystery team. Rita thought that the relic would be give her the courage to finally be able to enter Wigglytuff's guild, but...

"I'm such a coward. If I can't even get past the authorization, then..." Rita turned around, sighing once more, and walked away from the building. She needed some time alone, and she knew just where she would go.

* * *

"Ugh... Where... _Aaagh!_" Pain soared throughout the Charmander's body. He was confused. Where was he? He was too pained to think, too weak to stand however.

"Ah... I'm blacking out again... urk..." the Charmander closed his eyes, and laid back to rest.

* * *

Rita sat at the edge of the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. The Krabby always blew bubbles on this beach at sunset when the weather was good. It helped Rita relax, almost making Rita feel completely at ease. Almost...

"How am I ever going to become an apprentice at Wigglytuff's guild if I keep being a big chicken like this?" Rita said to herself. "I'll never become anything good at this rate! I need to be strong! ..."

But Rita didn't feel strong. Not in the slightest. Maybe she wasn't cut out to form an exploration team after all. Maybe...

Rita happened to look to her left just then, when she saw a tiny flicker of light a few yards away. Curious, she went to go investigate. When she got closer to the light, she leaped in surprise.

"Oh my gosh! A Charmander fainted on the beach!" Rita ran up to the Charmander. He looked bruised and beaten, and the flame on the tip of his tail was slowly running dim.

"Hello!?" Rita asked frantically. "Are you alright? Please get up!"  
"... Ugh," The Charmander slowly sat up. Pain was still welling within his body, but that rest from earlier was able to make him feel a _little_ better. He kept his eyes closed though.

Rita went up to the Charmander. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes..." the Charmander replied weakly.

"Really!? What is it?"

"Can you please... lower your voice?"

"Oh," Rita blushed from her rudeness, and she stepped back a bit to give the Charmander a little space. That's when the Charmander opened his eyes.

"Ah! A Chikorita! Did you... Were you talking to me?" the Charmander asked.

Rita had a look of dismay, "Of course it was me. I don't see anybody else around here."

"But... I'm human! Humans can't understand Pokémon. Maybe I'm dreaming or..."

"Human!?" Rita gasped, "But you look like a normal Charmander to me."

"Charmander...?" The Charmander looked at his hands, er, _claws_ now. She was right! Somehow he had turned into a Charmander, but...

"Um, I can't tell if you're just kidding with me or not, but if you don't mind me asking, what's you name?"

"My name?" the Charmander thought about that.

He couldn't remember.

"I... I don't remember!" the Charmander cried out. Rita gave a confused look. "I'm serious! I... I..."

"It's okay, I believe you!" Rita assured. "How about I just call you Charmander for now?"

Charmander said that that would be fine.

"I'm Rita, by the way!" Rita gave Charmander a quirky look. "You're kinda strange... but you don't seem like a bad Pokémon! Lots of aggressive Pokémon have been popping up lately, but you seem to be A-OK!" Just to try and cheer Charmander up, she gave a small smile to him.

That was when they showed up.

A Koffing and a Zubat. They were walking towards Rita from behind, and Charmander thought they were just passing by, until...

BAM!

"Aiee!"

"Ack!"

The Koffing and the Zubat suddenly shoved Rita forwards, knocking into Charmander and dropping her Relic Fragment.

"Well, I _do_ beg your pardon." the Koffing said mockingly.

Rita jumped off of Charmander. "Hey! What was that for!?"

"What d'ya think? We wanted to mess with you! Don't think we didn't see you tremblin' outside the guild earlier!" The Zubat taunted.

"W-Wha-!" Rita seemed to be trembling slightly. All Charmander could do was watch in confusion.

"Well, I think we'll just take this then," the Koffing grabbed the relic that Rita had grabbed earlier.

"No! Don't take that!"

"And what are you gonna do about it? You can't do anything with that fear of yours, heh heh." Zubat mocked.

"We'll be going now, you big chicken!" Koffing said as he and Zubat headed into a nearby cave.

Rita was _really_ shaken up now. Charmander wished he could help somehow, but he was still confused as to what the heck just happened.

It was Rita who spoke first. "... Oooh... That was my most prized possession... If I lose it, then..." Rita suddenly put on a brave face, "No! I have to get it back!" Rita spun around to face Charmander, who was still sitting in the sand a confused look. "Charmander, I know I just met you, but... can you please help me get my treasure back?"

"Wha-? Um... o-okay." Charmander stuttered without thinking.

"You will!? Oh thank you thank you! Now come on, let's go!" Rita scurried off towards the cave.

"H-hey, wait for me!" Charmander quickly got up and ran over to Rita who was already at the entrance to the cave.

* * *

"It's like you're a portable torch, Charmander! I don't think we would've made it through this dark cave without that tail of yours." Rita said, looking closely at the flame burning on Charmander's tail. They had been going after Zubat and Koffing for the entire cave, traversing four floors of the cave. Charmander was leading the way, acting as a light source.

"Hey! Don't get close to it! You'll burn yourself, being a grass-type." Charmander warned.

Rita let out a laugh. It wasn't too loud, just a light laugh but full of warmth and heart. "What? Didn't you know that the flame on a Charmander's tail doesn't burn, and is only as hot as the warmth from a warm blanket?" Charmander just looked at Rita strangely. "You're a Charmander! You should know that. Besides, don't you think it would've been hard for Charmanders to sleep if their tales"

"I told you! I'm human, or, I _was_ human..." Charmander mumbled. Charmander suddenly saw light up ahead.

"I see something! Let's go Rita," Charmander and Rita ran up to the opening, and found themselves in a large pit. Soft, orange light filled the room from multiple holes in the wall and ceiling. And on the other side of the room was Zubat and Koffing. They were just standing there, as if they were waiting for Charmander and Rita.

"Well well, if it isn't the big chicken!" the Koffing yelled. The insult was obviously meant for Rita, and she seemed taken aback.

"G-give me my treasure back!" Rita tried sounding brave, but the trembling in her voice said otherwise.

"Treasure, you say?" the Zubat said, "Hey Koffing, this thing could be worth a fortune!"

"Whoa-ho-ho! All the more reason not to give it back then!" Koffing laughed.

"N-no! You can't-"

"Give her back her treasure!" Charmander suddenly shouted.

"Oh? Standing up for the chicken, are you?" Zubat said.

"Look, I don't who you are, I barely know who she is, but I know what I saw, and you have no right to just... take something from her that means the entire world to her!" Charmander didn't know what came over him. It was as if he a whole different Pokémon saying those words.

But somehow... it felt right. And Charmander felt stronger. Rita was looking at Charmander with a look he couldn't decipher.

"If you want it back that badly... Come and get it! Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat challenged.

_You're asking for it..._ Charmander leapt forward and scratched Zubat across the face. Rita snapped out of it and focused her efforts on Koffing.

"Ow! You little..." Zubat flew towards Charmander, clamped his mouth down onto Charmander's arm, and used Leech Life.

"Agh! Get off of me!" Charmander tried kicking Zubat off but Zubat held firm. Charmander felt himself getting weaker...

"Hey, get off of him!" Rita ran over to Charmander and used Razor Leaf, knocking Zubat out.

"Thanks..." Charmander said, rubbing his arm. Then he saw Koffing come up from behind Rita.

"Look out!" Charmander yelled, but Koffing had already tackled Rita, knocking Rita to the floor.

"Time to finish you off!" Koffing said, looming over Rita.

"HEY!" Charmander yelled furiously. "Get a-WAY!" The moment Charmander yelled "way", he shot a bullet of flame right at Koffing.

A critical hit!

Koffing was defeated!

"What the-? I can use ember?" Charmander said to himself. Then he saw Rita.

"Rita!" he yelled. He ran up to her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm... fine." Rita grunted.

"Here, take this." Charmander gave Rita an Oran berry he had found earlier in the cave. Rita gratefully ate the berry.

"Owowow..." "Ugh..." Zubat and Koffing's moans brought Charmander and Rita back to attention, and they watched as Zubat and Koffing slowly got back up. Charmander growled threateningly at them.

"B-blast it! How'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?" Koffing grumbled.

"Bah! Fine, take it then, if you want it so bad!" Zubat threw Rita's treasure at Charmander and Rita.

"Whoa-ho! Don't think you're so awesome, that victory was just fluke!" Koffing said.

"Yeah, just remember that!" With that, Zubat and Koffing fled the cave. Rita went up to the her treasure.

"My Relic Fragment!" she exclaimed, "I-I can't believe I finally got it back," Rita turned to Charmander, "and it's all because you helped me, Charmander..." Rita looked ready to cry, much to Charmander's embarrassment, "Thank you SO much!"

* * *

"Thanks again, Charmander! I mean it!" Rita said happily when they had made it out of the cave. They were now standing at the water's edge.

_She's really happy... I'm glad I helped her out in the end... It's nice to be appreciated..._ Charmander thought to himself.

Rita put her treasure in front of the both of them.

"This treasure... I call it a Relic Fragment." Rita explained. "It means everything to me... I... I've always liked legends and lore, and..." Rita was thinking to herself as she said all this. She's never told this to anybody, but this Charmander... Rita felt as if she could trust Charmander.

Rita continued, "I always get excite hearing these tales! Just imagine, hidden troves full of treasure, caves filled with secrets, and new lands waiting to be discovered! And looking at my Relic Fragment here... it reminds me of all those exciting things that I want to do.

"I found this Relic Fragment one day, and it seems so mysterious... just look at it." Rita beckoned. Charmander went up to the strange stone. It was rough and jagged on the bottom, but the top of the fragment was completely smooth, with a strange symbol carved on the surface.

_What a strange inscription. I've never seen something like this before..._ Charmander thought to himself.

"Solving the mystery of my relic fragment... it's one of the things that I hope to find out! And that's why, earlier, before I met you, I tried to become an apprentice at the local guild, but... I-I chickened out." Rita admitted.

Charmander remembered Zubat and Koffing saying something like that earlier. Something about "tremblin' outside the guild".

"So... Charmander. What are you going to do? I believe you, by the way. So, if you really lost your memories and you're actually a human turned into a Pokémon, then," Rita hesitated for a bit, "will you... Will you form an exploration team with me? Please?" Rita looked at Charmander desperately, giving huge, begging eyes. "I remember the way we fought those two thieves back in the cave, and I think we'd be really good if we teamed up together, so..."

Charmander was shocked at first. He began to think it over. _I... I don't know. Should I go with her?_ Charmander glanced at Rita and sighed. _She's right. I don't have anything else to do. I can barely remember anything. I can't even remember my name! Only the fact that I was human... but nothing else... I might as well form an exploration team with her. Maybe it'll help me along the way too._ Charmander looked one more time at Rita and smirked. _Besides, I don't think I'd be able to refuse with the way she's looking at me like that._

With that, Charmander turned to Chikorita and nodded.

"R-Really!? You'll form an exploration team with me!?" Rita asked.

"I did say yes, didn't I?" Charmander said, smiling.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Rita used her vines and pulled Charmander into a hug, which greatly surprised Charmander (and truthfully, embarrassed him a little too).

"C'mon! Let's go to the guild now!" Rita ran towards the guild, forgetting to release Charmander from her vines.

"W-wait! Let me go first!" Charmander yelled, nearly face-planting into the sand.

"Oh, oops! Sorry!"

* * *

**So, yeah, the partner has a name. While playing the game, it felt wrong to just call her "Chikorita", so I named her Rita. The main character also has a name in my game, but for privacy purposes, the main character will stay as "Charmander". And if you're wondering, I will explain why Rita is named Rita sometime later in the story.**

**Also, keep in mind, I haven't actually finished the game yet, soooo... don't kill me if I make some kind of story error here and there.**

**And of course, the usual, "please leave me reviews!" thing that people leave at the end of every chapter, which I won't really say much, else I'll sound like a shameless b-word... but I'll still say something along those lines. Either way, thanks for reading!**


	2. Our First Day!

**Decided to put a cover image for the story. I honestly couldn't find anything better, and wasn't much in a mood to draw something myself (I'm, uh, decent at drawing, I think... I hope...), so I decided to just use a photo of Rita's Relic Fragment and put "Team Skye" at the top. Honestly, I probably could've done better...**

**Disclaimer: Nothing's changed. I still don't own Pokémon, and that's not going to change anytime soon.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Our First Day!**

_ C'mon, I'm here already, don't be such a chicken..._ Rita was fighting with herself as she stood outside the building to Wigglytuff's guild for the second time today.

"Um... are you okay?" Charmander asked with concern.

"Ah! Oh, y-yeah, I'm fine..." Rita mumbled in response. _I can't back down now! I have Charmander here with me. I have to be brave!_ Rita cautiously stepped onto the grating in front of the building.

"Pokemon detected! Pokémon detected!" "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" "The footprint is Chikorita's! The footprint is Chikorita's!" Once again, the voice beneath the grating yelled out loud, nearly sending Rita scrawling backwards.

"Rita," Charmander spoke up, "It's okay. It's not like they're hurting you or anything, right?" Charmander tried to give a reassuring smile.

_He must have seen me shivering..._ Rita said to herself, _Stop being such a coward! Just stay calm, and..._

"You may ENTER!" said the voice from beneath the grating. "Er, at least, you _would_ enter, but it looks like you have company with you. Other person! Step forwards!" Rita stepped off of the grating, letting out a relieved sigh.

"Your turn." she said.

Charmander stepped onto the grating. "The footprint is... er..." the voice beneath the grating seemed to faulter.

"What? Who's footprint is it?" said another voice. "Sentry? Sentry Diglett!? Who's footprint?"

"Um... the footprint is... maybe Charmander's?" said the Diglett.

"Maybe? MAYBE!? We don't pay you for 'maybe's' here!"

"I don't know what I don't know! It's rare to see a Charmander around here!"

Back on top of the grating, Charmander and Rita were still standing, somewhat impatiently.

"Um... are they arguing?" Rita said out loud.

"They... don't seem to know what kind of Pokémon I am..." Charmander pointed out.

"Sorry to keep to WAITING." said the voice beneath the grating. "While Charmanders aren't really seen much around here... You don't seem _too_ bad."

_What!? How can they tell whether I'm bad or not based on my footprint alone!?_ Charmander thought incredulously.

"You two may ENTER!" the voice said. With a large rumble, the gate in front of the building opened up, leading inside.

"Aaah!" Rita yelped, "T-this is it. My heart's pounding..."

Charmander just nodded his head, and the lead the way inside, Rita following along.

There was only one small room inside the building. In one corner stood a large sign, and at the center was a large hole and a wooden ladder leading downstairs.

"Do you think we should go down here?" Rita asked.

"There's nowhere else to go..." Charmander said. They both went down the ladder.

What awaited at the bottom fascinated both Pokémon. At the bottom was a MUCH larger room. In the room, there was another ladder right next to one they just came down going downstairs, leading deeper into the guild. On either side of the room was a billboard.

But what fascinated the two of them the most was the amount of Pokémon in the room. There were many other Pokémon, hustling and bustling, all going about their busniess. They spotted a Sunflora, a Bidoof, a Seedot, and so on.

"Wow! Look at all these Pokémon!" Rita remarked, looking around with fascinated eyes. "Do you think they're all from exploration teams?" The two walked around a bit more, when someone called out behind them.

"Excuse me!" A Pokémon came up to the two of them. It was a Chatot.

"Hello!" Rita said. "We're here to-"

"Yes yes, but I'm afraid we'll have to refuse," Chatot interrupted, "We have absolutely no time for business-people and salesmen. Now off with you two! Shoo!"

The Chatot gently began pushing them towards the ladder back outside.

"W-wait! We're not business-people or salesmen." Rita spoke up.

"What was that?" Chatot said, stopping.

"You see, we're here to form an exploration team," she said, facing Chatot.

"An exploration team, you say!?" Chatot let out with surprise. He turned around and began speaking to himself.

"It's rare to have Pokémon as small as these two want to form an exploration team... I'm not sure if they'll be cut out for it, what with all the dropouts we've been having!"

"Excuse me, but is the training here really that hard?" Rita asked.

"W-What!? No no no! Of course not! Absolutely not! Our training is as easy as can be!" Chatot suddenly put on a smile. "Well, why didn't you say you wanted to form an exploration team in the first place? We'll get you set up right away! Hee-heeee!"

"Um... he's kinda weird..." Charmander whispered to Rita, "And he should probably keep his trap shut when he thinks to himself like that."

"Oh shush. If he'll help us set up an exploration team, then I won't mind one bit." Charmander raised an eye at Rita. "Okay, I admit, he is a little weird..." she admitted.

"Well, follow me if you please!" Chatot led the two of them to the ladder that led deeper into the guild.

On this floor, there was an even larger room. On the far east and west sides of the room were two corridors. In the northwest corner of the room, there was a small shop that a Croagunk was operating. In the southwest corner, there was another hole, this time with a vine instead of a ladder going down.

And in the northeast corner was a large door. Chatot led the two Pokémon to the door.

"Wow, look at this!" Rita said, looking outside a window next to the door. "We're underground, but there are still windows overlooking the sea on the outside!"

"Well, of course!" Chatot said, "This guild is built on a cliffside, so it's only obvious that you can see the outside!"

_Sheesh, you don't need to be such a smart aleck about it._ Charmander thought to himself.

"Anyways, this is the second underground floor of the guild, and this door here leads to the Guildmaster's chamber- Oh! I nearly forgot to introduce myself. I am Chatot, the Guildmaster's right-hand Pokémon! Our Guildmaster, as you should know, is Wigglytuff. We will set up your team in his room." Chatot suddenly put on a steely look. "Now, under no circumstances are you going to be discourteous to our Guildmaster. Do I make that clear? Good. Now," Chatot faced the door, "Guildmaster, it's Chatot. I'm coming in!"

Charmander and Rita stepped inside, with Chatot following along and closing the door besides him.

The room was moderately sized, and at the opposite end of the room stood Wigglytuff. He had his back turned to them.

"Guildmaster! These two would like to join the guild as apprentices." Chatot explained.

No response.

"Um... Guildmaster? Uh-"

"Hiya!" Wigglytuff suddenly spun around, scaring Charmander and Rita. "You two want to form an exploration team! Alright, let's start! First, your team name."

"N-name!?" Rita said. "I... I haven't thought of that... Hey, Charmander, what do you think our team name should be?"

"A name, huh...?" Charmander thought to himself. "How about... Team Skye? With an 'e' at the end."

"Skye? How'd you come up with that?" Rita asked.

Charmander shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, it sounded cool. And..." Charmander looked down and began lightly kicking the dirt.

Rita got the message. "Alright then, our team name will be Skye! Oh, and with an 'e' at the end... I like it!" she said happily.

"Team Skye? Okay! I'll register your team name! Registering! Registering! … YOOM-TAH! All done!" Wigglytuff put on an overly happily face (which creeped out Charmander a bit). "Yay! Congratulations! You are now an officially official exploration team! Now, take a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit!"

"A... Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?" Rita asked.

"Yes yes! Every team needs one!" Wigglytuff put down a large box in front of the two of them. "Now, open it up!"

Rita went up to the box and opened it. Inside, there was a whole assortment of goodies. An exploration team badge (which looked like a white sphere with wings on it), a wonder map, and a treasure bag.

"Wow! Look at all this!" Rita exclaimed.

"Yep! And there's more! Open up that treasure bag!"

Inside the bag was a scarf and a green bow.

_Well, will you look at that. Pokémon wear clothes in this world._ Charmander noted.

"Thank you for all this! We promise to do our best as apprentices!" Rita promised.

"Of course! Of course!" Wigglytuff said happily.

* * *

"Now I'm assuming you two don't have any home to stay in?" Chatot asked.

"No, I'm afraid not..." Rita replied.

"Well, that's fine! Here, I'll show you the room you two will be staying in if that's the case," Chatot led Charmander and Rita into the eastern corridor of the floor. After a bit of walking down the corridor, they came to a small, yet cozy room. Two beds lay at the east side of the room. Other than that, a window adorned the north side of the room.

"We get our own room!" Rita said.

"Yes, that's all fine. Now, you two should go to sleep now. Tomorrow will be your first day after all!" With that, Chatot left the two of them alone in the room.

"He's right. We should probably go to sleep now," Rita said, already making herself comfortable on one of the beds. "Good night, Charmander."

Charmander went over to the other bed, and lay down. "Good night..." Charmander said back.

* * *

Charmander couldn't sleep. The moonlight was shining outside, and Charmander couldn't sleep no matter what he did.

_C'mon! I had no problem blacking out this morning, and I didn't even want to sleep! Just close your eyes, find a comfy spot, and..._

Charmander was so busy twisting and turning that he didn't even notice it when Rita got out of bed and approached him.

"Hey, are you still awake?" Rita asked, making Charmander jump.

"Ack! Oh, it's just you... Sorry, was I being noisy?"

"No, it's not that. Don't worry, I couldn't sleep either," the light from Charmander's tail gave both of them a spooky look in the darkness. Rita turned and looked outside the window, where the moonlight flooded in from the window.

"I know I said this a million times before, but..." Rita started, "I really am grateful that you've helped me all this time, even if it's only been a day. If you hadn't been there for me this entire time, then... I don't what would've happened." Charmander just nodded his head, even though he knew she wasn't looking.

"I wanted to ask you something," Rita said, turning around to face Charmander again. "Why Skye? It's not like I don't like the name, but I'd just like to know. I saw the way back at Wigglytuff's room, where you were all nervous to explain the name. I think you can explain now, now that it's just us. I trust you, so..." Rita waited for Charmander to continue.

"I..." Charmander started, "I told you how I could barely remember who I am, besides being human. You remember, right?" Rita nodded her head, and waited for Charmander to continue, "Well... I also remembered how you told me your life dreams, and all the exciting possibilities you wished to discover as an apprentice here, so... how do I put it...?" Charmander scratched his head and thought about how he should explain. "In a way, for both of us, only the sky can be our limit. You want to explore every hidden trove, find every secret that touches the planet, and as for me, I want to find out who I really am, and I'll reach as far as the sky to find out about my past, and..."

Charmander was so busy explaining that he didn't even realize that he was standing and pacing the room. He stopped himself once he realized that he had already walked in a circle twice.

"Wow... that's really deep..." Rita said, walking over to Charmander. "And what about that 'e' at the end?"

"Well, I _did_ also say the name sounded cool, and adding that 'e' seemed to make it fit!" They both lightly laughed, then Rita let out a yawn.

"Oh, looks like I'm finally tired," Rita said, "I'm going back to bed now," Charmander nodded his head, and began walking back towards his head...

… But not before Rita pulled Charmander towards her with her vines and brought him into a hug. "Thank you, again. You have no idea how much this means to me. I don't how you were like as a human... but I'm sure that you were a good person," Rita let go of Charmander and made her way to her bed. She quickly laid down.

Charmander had a faint blush on his face, but the way the shadows were reflected were able to hide it. Charmander made his way over to his bed, and laid down.

"Your welcome." Charmander said into the darkness. He wasn't sure if Rita had heard him or not. Either way, Charmander was finally awash with fatigue, and he quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Light flooded in from the window, signaling the early morning.

When Charmander woke up, it took him a good minute to realize why he was in a dirt room, sleeping on a hay bed, with a Chikorita sleeping on another bed not too far from him.

_Oh yeah,_ Charmander realized, _I woke up yesterday as a Pokémon, lost my memory, and now I'm helping a Chikorita named Rita with her hopes and dreams..._ Charmander sighed quietly. _I still don't even know how I got into all of this... I'm still tired... Maybe I should just go back to sleep..._ Charmander closed his eyes, and was about to fall asleep once again, when...

"HEY! UP AND AT 'EM, ROOKIES!"

"Gah! Rita! I thought you knew how sensitive I was to noise!" Charmander yelled, hastily closing his ears.

"Why are you still ASLEEP!?"

Charmander opened his eyes, and was surprised to find a Loudred standing at the front of the room.

"I'm Loudred! I'm a fellow apprentice here at the guild." the Loudred explained. "You two need to get up right NOW, or you'll miss the morning briefing! You wouldn't want to get Wigglytuff in a bad temper, or OH, would that be a NASTY scene!"

_Wigglytuff, losing his temper? He seems like a jolly Pokémon, even if he's a bit... overly happy._ Charmander thought.

"So get up RIGHT NOW!" Loudred screamed one more time before leaving the room.

"Arceus... does he have to speak so dang _loud_?" Charmander mumbled.

"I think my eardrums may have popped..." Rita said in a woozy tone. "What was that Loudred saying again? Something about..." Rita suddenly gasped and jumped to her feet.

"Oh my gosh!" she yelled. "We overslept!" Rita quickly grabbed Charmander with her vines and pulled him out of the room. "Hurry Charmander! We can't miss our very first meeti-"

"Rita!" Charmander interrupted. "I have feet too, y'know! Please let me go so I can USE 'EM!"

* * *

"You're LATE, rookies!" Loudred yelled once they got to the morning briefing, which was held in the second underground floor of the guild, right outside the door to the Guildmaster's chamber.

"Shush, Loudred! You're voice is incredibly... loud!" Chatot said, who couldn't come up with a better word.

"Oh, sorry..." Loudred muttered. Charmander couldn't help snickering, which earned him a sharp glare from Rita.

"Guildmaster! The crew is in full attendance!" Chatot yelled.

Out came Wigglytuff. His first words of the morning? "Zzzzz... Snorfle... Zzz..."

He was still asleep. And somehow, he was sleepwalking too.

"Those are some fine... words of wisdom, Guildmaster!" Chatot said happily, turning to the group, "Everyone! Take the Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart!"

_You... You've gotta be kidding, right? He's still asleep, for Arceus' sake!_ Charmander thought.

"And now for our morning cheers!" Chatot said.

This time, everybody began to yell, "A ONE, A TWO... A ONE-TWO-THREE!"

"ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK!" Everyone yelled out loud... Well, everyone except Charmander, who had no idea what he should be saying.

"TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY!" Charmander glanced at Rita, who was happily cheering along with everyone else, as if she had known these words her entire life. _Oh wait, knowing Rita she probably even studied these words in preparation for this day..._ Charmander figured.

"THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"Okay, Pokémon! Get to work!" Chatot announced.

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered, dispersing and going about their business.

Charmander, however, was still slightly confused, and let out a late, "Um... hooray?"

_SNAP!_

"Ow! R-Rita! What was that for?" Charmander said, rubbing the back of his head where Rita had whipped him with a vine.

"Why didn't you cheer along with everyone else?" Rita demanded with an angry look on her face.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ for not knowing the words on our _first day here_!" Charmander said, making sure to emphasize "first day".

"... And that hurt..." Charmander added.

"Oh, um, sorry then..." Rita responded, briefly looking away before looking at Charmander again with an excited look in her eyes, "But never mind that! It's our first day here, and there are endless possibilities at what we could do! Maybe we can explore a hidden cave, or-"

"Hey! You two! Follow me, please!" Chatot suddenly interrupted and headed up the ladder to the first underground floor.

"Oh! Maybe Chatot will be giving us our first assignment! I wonder what we'll do, maybe we'll be exploring a mysterious trove, delve off to find hidden treasures, and...!"

Rita went on and on about the possibilities of what the two of them could be doing on their first day.

_Wow, she's hyper,_ Charmander thought to himself as Rita began to talk about how maybe they'd "find out the secret of their relic". _She's so different from the timid Chikorita I met yesterday. Guess it's the excitement that's welling her up._

"Alright! Come here, please!" Chatot said when Charmander and Rita reached the first underground floor. Chatot was standing in front of the billboard on the west side of the room.

"Good, now, as you know it is your first day here, so I will have to explain how things work in the guild," Chatot said as Charmander and Rita walked up to him. "This billboard behind me contains a list of something called Jobs. All Jobs take place in mystery dungeons, and-"

"Um, sorry, but what's a mystery dungeon?" Charmander interrupted.

"Oh! Let me explain!" Rita said, "Mystery dungeons are really mysterious places. You remember that cave we explored to find my relic, Charmander, the one with four floors and the pit? That was a mystery dungeon! Mystery dungeons are always changing, and if we went to that beach cave right now, it would be entirely different!" Rita had a look of fascination as she explained this.

"Ah, good! So you know much about this already!" Chatot complemented, "Anyways, as I was saying, all jobs take place in mystery dungeons. Because it's your first day here, I will assign you a job. Now, let's see here..." Chatot turned to the billboard and picked out a slip of paper tacked to the board. "Here! How about this one?" she said, handing the two Pokémon the slip.

_Hi, I'm Spoink!_ the letter started, _My precious pearl has been stolen, but I heard that it's been spotted! However, I heard that the place where it's been spotted is a dangerous place, a mystery dungeon called the Drenched Bluff. Please find the pearl for me! It should be on floor B7F of the dungeon. Thank you!_

Charmander glanced at Rita. Her face was less than enthusiastic.

"Wait..." Rita said slowly, "We're... we're going to be searching for something that somebody _lost_!?"

"Hush, child!" Chatot said, "You two are beginners! So you two are going to complete this job, no complaints. Do I make myself clear? Good! Now go!"

Rita sighed, and Charmander couldn't help facepalming too.

* * *

"We're here." Charmander said, turning around to check on Rita. She still had a pouty look on her face that she had since they left the guild. "Rita, we're beginners. It's only natural that they'd give us a lame job..."

"... Yeah, I guess..." Rita mumbled back.

Charmander sighed in defeat, "Okay, hope you feel better as we explore the dungeon. I guess I'll just leave you some space 'till then-"

"N-no!" Rita quickly said, before drawing back, "I mean, uh, I'm fine now. Let's just stay together right now, since it's our first job." She flashed him a quick smile and went into the entrance of the mystery dungeon. Charmander raised an eye at Rita's sudden change of heart, but he shrugged it off and followed her into the dungeon.

"No, Charmander! Don't eat that!"

"What? I'm hungry..." Charmander said, disappointed, "It's just an Oran Berry..."

"No it's not! That's an Oren Berry!"

"That's what I just said!" Charmander said angrily.

"No! I mean... that kind of berry's spelled as O-R-E-N, instead of O-R-A-N."

"What's the difference?" Charmander mumbled, still looking remorsefully at the berry.

"Oren berries, with an 'e', harm you. They're kinda poisonous in a way." Rita explained.

"Aww..." Charmander complained, "So much for having a snack..." he said, throwing away the berry.

"I found an apple earlier!" Rita said, bringing out an apple from their treasure bag. She took a large bite out of the apple before handing it to Charmander. "Here, you can have the rest. I'm not hungry."

"Er, no. I think I'm good."

Rita let out a laugh, "What? Just because I ate some of it doesn't mean it's poisonous! Besides," Rita waved the apple tantalizingly in front of Charmander's face, "I know you're hungryyyy!" she said in a sing-song accent.

Charmander quickly swiped the apple from her, "Fine, you win," he said smiling and taking a bite out of the apple. "'s a good apple." he commented.

The two of them have traveled for two hours already. They were now on floor six of the dungeon. In that time, Charmander decided that he would wear the scarf provided by Wigglytuff, and that Rita would wear the green bow provided by Wigglytuff. "It fits you, and matches nicely with your pale green color." Charmander said at the time, which earned him a grateful smile from Rita.

Rita's mood had improved dramatically. In fact, by the second floor she was back to her cheery, hyper self again. Though she never seemed to like it when Charmander strayed too far from her, always pulling him back with her vines if he was too far from her. _Probably just afraid of traveling alone,_ Charmander guessed. _Thought it would be nice if she let me explore on my every now and then. I wonder is there's some specific reason she won't let me stray too far from her..._ Charmander just shrugged off the thought however, and continued on his way

As for the dungeon itself, it was Charmander's nightmare. There was only water-type Pokémon in the dungeon, and he yelped every time a splash of water got on his tail. These moments were hysterical for Rita.

"Do you _want_ me to drop dead once the flame on my tail goes out!?" Charmander demanded after Rita splashed him with water from a nearby pond. "You seem to be more of a threat to me than the water-types in the dungeon!"

"Don't you know that Charmander tails don't extinguish from water?" Rita said, laughing.

"It still feels weird though! It's like a cold wind every time water gets on my tail..."

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Rita said happily, splashing more water on Charmander. "Besides, it's fun to watch you all scared like that!" she said.

Charmander just grumbled something under his breath about "stupid water...", when he saw something up ahead.

"Oh, look!" he said, pointing, "The next set of stairs!" he and Rita ran over to the stairs, where they came onto floor B7F.

"Spoink's pearl!" Rita shouted, pointing at a glimmer in the distance. They ran to the pearl and dropped it in their treasure bag. "We should head back, now that we have Spoink's pearl!"

"'Kay, lead the way!" Charmander said as they made the long trek back to the entrance of the dungeon.

* * *

"Thank you for finding and returning my pearl!" Spoink said as Rita handed over his pearl. They were standing back in the first underground floor of the guild, with Chatot watching them. "It means the world to me! Here, let me repay you!"

Spoink gave Rita and Charmander a _wealth_ of goods. Among them were several stat-changing vitamins, and a large bag with...

"2000 Pokédollars!?" Rita and Charmander exclaimed out loud.

"Can... can we _really_ have this much?" Rita asked tentatively.

"Of course! It's nothing compared to my pearl!" Spoink said. "Thanks again!" Spoink said before leaving the guild.

"We're rich, Charmander!" Rita said happily.

"Yes yes, that's great!" Chatot said, walking up to Charmander and Rita, "Now, hand that money over, if you please!"

"W-What!?" Rita and Charmander exclaimed.

"B-But..." Rita started.

"Most of the money goes to the guild," Chatot explained, taking the money bag, "Your pay comes out to... THIS much!"

Chatot handed back 200 Pokédollars.

"You... you took a whole _ninety percent_ of the money!" Charmander complained. "Not fifty perceny, not even seventy-five, but ninety percent!? Isn't that a bit much?"

"No complaining!" Chatot demanded. "Without the money, our guild wouldn't be able to operate as normal. Now, dinner's almost ready, so I suggest you take your meal and head to bed early for another long day."

* * *

After Rita and Charmander each had a fill of their meal (which consisted of an assortment of colored apples), the two made their way to their room, exhausted and more than eager for sleep.

Charmander was having another one of those nights. He would almost fall asleep, but at the last second he would get a random burst of energy, and would have to try to calm down again.

This went on for an hour of the night, and Charmander was beginning to get frustrated again, when Rita spoke out from the dark.

"Hey, Charmander, you still awake?" she asked.

"Ugh, was I being noisy again?" Charmander asked, moaning. He heard Rita let out a light chuckle from the other bed.

"No, nothing like that..." she said. "I'm still a bit hyper from what happened today... I'm sorry for being such a bad sport when we first got to the Drenched Bluff. Turns out I enjoyed it a lot more than I originally thought, and, well, you remember how your experience was like."

Charmander remembered it clearly. Being splashed by lots of water from a certain grass-type.

"I'm still a bit angry at Chatot for taking so much of our reward," Rita said, "but helping out that Spoink was more than worth it, seeing how happy he was..."

Charmander heard Rita yawn, "Well, I'm tired now. Let's make tomorrow another exciting day, okay Charmander? Good night..."

"Good night." Charmander replied. He closed his eyes, and this time, sleep finally came to him...

* * *

**Hopefully nobody found this chapter too mushy or anything, especially with that first night scene. Sure, all they did was hug that night, but still...**

**Anyways, I'm probably not going to elaborate much on the later dungeons like I did in this chapter unless they're absolutely crucial to the story. I don't think you'd find reading dungeons all that interesting, now would you?**

**As usual, I would greatly appreciate any reviews, and definitely criticism too. I'd like to know your opinions on how this chapter turned out, and if you think the relationship between Charmander and Rita is nice and balanced. Thanks for reading!**

**... On a separate note, apparently Chikorita is about eleven inches (or 28 centimeters) taller than Charmander, according to the Pokédex. I find that just a bit weird, 'cause I always imagined Charmander to be taller than Chikorita, but it looks like it's the other way around by a longshot. Sure, I guess the leaf on top of Chikorita's head gives the Pokémon an advantage, but still...**


	3. Our First Failure

**Because I REALLY just wanted to get all the stupid introductions out of the way ('cause nobody likes introductions... well, at least _I_ don't), I skipped Bidoof's tutorial of Treasure Town. Also, the amount of rewrites I made of this chapter were _ridiculous_, and even after all of that, I STILL don't know if this chapter's good or not... so I'll leave that up to you to decide.**

**Oh yeah, and if you haven't noticed yet, I changed the title, 'cause I felt like the old title was a bit too... dull.**

**Disclaimer: Y'know, I'm starting to wonder, who the heck decided that you should put a disclaimer on a piece of FAN-FICTION. It's FAN and FICTION people, so obviously none of us owns this stuff that we're writing about! Jeez, get the picture...**

* * *

**Chapter 3: ... And our First Failure.**

"UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred shouted before leaving the room.

"For Arceus' sake... will he be doing that every damn day...?" Charmander said, refusing to stand.

"Guess we'll just have to get used to it..." Rita said, slowly getting up. "Good morning,"

"How can I have a 'good' morning with Loudred smashing our eardrums?" Charmander asked sarcastically, still refusing to get up.

"C'mon, get in the spirit a bit more! We're apprentices now and you should start acting like one. You can start by getting up." Rita said, planting herself next to Charmander's bed.

"Okay, mother." Charmander replied as he got up, giving a small, sly smile to Rita.

"Stop it, that's not funny!" She couldn't help but laugh a little though.

Charmander tied on his cyan scarf around his neck, while Rita did the same with her green bow.

When they were set, they went off to do their morning cheers.

"Okay, Pokémon! Get to work!" Chatot announced once they had finished.

"HOORAY!"

Everybody dispersed, going about their business while Charmander and Rita headed to the first underground floor of the guild.

"You stuttered on 'two', by the way," Rita said as they walked towards the job billboard.

"I just forgot the words for a little bit. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! They're our morning cheers, and they help us get spirited for the day!"

Charmander just rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. Anyways, what jobs could we do for today..."

"Hey! You two!" Chatot called out to the two of them, heading over to them. "Let me show you something,"

Chatot showed Rita and Charmander the board on the other side of the room. The board contained a list of outlaws that hung out in mystery dungeons, and it was the guild's job to hunt down these outlaws and turn them in to the authorities.

"So basically we beat the living daylights out of these Pokémon and turn them in for a reward?" Charmander said.

"Er, I suppose, if you want to it _that_ way..." Chatot replied a bit nervously, "But these Pokémon are no run-of-the-mill Pokémon. They're on this board for a reason, after all! Now, have you two been to Treasure Town!"

"Uh, n-"

"Oh, yes!" Rita quickly interrupted Charmander. She turned to Charmander, "I've been to Treasure Town a lot before we became apprentices. It's right outside the guild, and I know every corner of it!"

"Well, that's good then! I suggest you two prepare at the town and try out an outlaw job. I think I'll trust you two this time to pick out your first job, but make sure it's something easy!" With that, Chatot walked off to do whatever he did on his free time.

"Okay, we will!" Rita shouted to him, "C'mon Charmander, let me show you around the town!"

* * *

_Where the heck is Charmander?_ Rita thought to herself, _I just looked away for a second, and-_

"Rita! I got us some supplies!" Charmander yelled, running up to her. "Look," He opened a bag filled with various items, "It only cost 100 Pokédollars, and the merchant-"

"Charmander!" Rita yelled, staring furiously at Charmander.

"W-what!?" Charmander asked. He was a bit unnerved at the way Rita was staring at him.

"Those aren't supplies!" Rita said, grabbing the bag from Charmander and looking closer inside, "Oren berries, Reviser seeds, Mix elixers... Charmander, this bag is full of lookalike items! Whoever sold you this tricked you!"

"S-sorry, I didn't know-!"

"Who sold you this?" Rita demanded. Charmander pointed at a shady-looking Kecleon trying to sneak out of the town.

"Hey!" Rita yelled at the Kecleon, running after him, "Hey, you don't just...!"

_Arceus, she really got worked up... aaaaand now she's bringing out the vine whips... _Charmander watched the (slightly humorous) scene between Rita and the Kecleon. She eventually returned to Charmander with a satisfied look and a small bag, which Charmander assumed to be the refund.

"Well, someone looks happy," Charmander said as they began to walk around the town some more, "Why weren't you that worked up with Koffing and Zubat? Would've been a lot easier to get your relic back."

"Well, that's because that Kecleon blatantly tricked you into doing that. That day, those two bullies seemed to focus all their attention on me, so that's why I was nervous." Rita explained.

_So, in other words, she's only brave when... I'm involved?_ Charmander thought. _That's actually kind of..._

"Anyways," Rita said, interrupting Charmander's thoughts, "how about I just do the shopping for now?"

"Fine..." Charmander mumbled.

"Good! Now, _this_ is a safe place to buy supplies!" Rita said, stopping in front of a stand shop. The top of the store said "Kecleon Market".

"Hello!" Two Kecleon said in unison from the shop, one green and one purple.

"Oh, Rita!" the green one said, "So I heard you became an apprentice at Wigglytuff's guild. Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Rita replied to the complement.

"Now, who might this be?" the purple Kecleon asked, facing Charmander.

"Oh, this is my partner, Charmander. We formed an exploration team called Team Skye." Rita explained.

"Nice to meet you," Charmander said, just to be courteous.

"And the same to you," the green Kecleon said, "We are known as the Kecleon brothers, and we run this here Kecleon shop." the Kecleon explained to Charmander. The green Kecleon then turned to Rita, "Now, how may I help you, explorer?"

Rita beamed when Kecleon called her an explorer, "Well, we'd like some Oran berries, and maybe some..."

Charmander zoned off for a bit, when he noticed a rather cute looking Marill and Azurill heading their way.

"... Thank you!" Rita said after finishing her shopping. "Okay Charmander, maybe we can-"

"Misters Kecleon!" The Marill and Azurill came running over to the shop.

"Oh, little Marill and Azurill!" the Kecleon exclaimed.

"Hi! Can we please order an apple." the Azurill asked.

"Of course! We already have the order ready for you," the green Kecleon handed over a small bag, and Marill paid for the order.

"Thank you!" the two of them said, walking off.

"Anytime, friends!" the Kecleon brother called to them.

"That was nice," Rita said, "who were they?"

"Oh, those two are brothers," the Kecleon explained, "Their mother has fallen quite ill, and now they do all the shopping... quite inspiring, really."

"Misters Kecleon!" the Marill and Azurill came running back to the shop. "You gave us an extra apple. We didn't pay for this much,"

_Wow, they're honest,_ Charmander thought to himself, _I probably wouldn't have returned free food even if it was a mistake..._

"Ah, yes," the Kecleon brothers said, "consider that as a gift from the two of us."

"Really!? Thank you Misters Kecleon!" Marill and Azurill happily exclaimed. The two of them began to walk away again, when Azurill suddenly tripped and dropped an apple, which rolled by Charmander's feet.

"Oh! Arceus, that looked like it hurt..." Charmander mumbled as he picked up the apple and ran over to Azurill. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, helping Azurill get up and returning the apple.

"Y-yes, thank you." Azurill said shakily.

"No problem!" Charmander happily replied. Suddenly, he felt an enormous pain in his head.

_Ack! What... My head... I feel..._

"That was nice... to do..., Charmander," Rita said, walking up to Charmander and Azurill. Some of her words were muffled, and Charmander could only hear half of what she said.

_AAAGH! It's getting worse! I see some kind of light, and..._

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-_FLASH!_-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"_H-h-heeelp!"_

* * *

Charmander suddenly gasped out loud.

"Um, excuse me mister, is there something wrong?" Azurill asked.

"Azurill!" Marill called out in the distance.

"Oh, coming big brother!" Azurill called back, running over to Marill.

Charmander was still grasping his head, and was slightly panting. Rita looked at him with concern.

"Um, Charmander, are you okay?" she asked.

"I..." Charmander started, "I heard something... did you hear a scream for help, earlier?"

"A scream for help?!" Rita asked. Charmander nodded his head. "I didn't hear any scream just now."

Charmander just gave Rita an are-you-sure face.

"Look Charmander, I didn't hear anything. Maybe you were just imagining it."

"No... I'm pretty sure that-"

"How about we go and try some jobs?" Rita interrupted Charmander. "Maybe it'll help." she assured.

_Maybe she's right... still, what I just saw and heard was..._ Charmander's heart suddenly skipped a beat. What if the vision had some kind of connection with Charmander's past? _I guess I'll just forget about this for now, for Rita's sake, but I'll keep in mind what I just saw later on, just in case..._

"Oh, hi Marill! Hi Azurill!" Rita said, seeing the two of them in the middle of the town square with a Drowzee. "Who's this?"

"Oh! This here is Drowzee," Marill said, "He said that he'll find an item we lost on Mt. Bristle."

"Hello," the Drowzee said, at least seeming to acknowledge Charmander and Rita's presence. "Now, let's go, shall we?"

Marill, Azurill, and the Drowzee headed out of town when he bumped into Charmander. "Oh, sorry," the Drowzee mumbled before continuing on his way.

"It's so nice how everyone seems to be helping those two. The Kecleon, that Drowzee, and of course, you Charmander!" Rita said, turning to Charmander. Her face suddenly turned to a look of horror. "Oh my gosh! Charmander? Charmander!"

Charmander was on his knees, looking down, slightly trembling and grasping his forehead tightly.

"A-ah!" he suddenly yelled. He looked up, realizing the scene he had created. Rita was standing very closely to him with the most concerned look he had ever seen her have, and some passerby were just staring at the two with anxious looks.

"That... that Drowzee..." Charmander mumbled, "he... he's going to do something bad to Azurill, I saw him, he..."

"Charmander, snap out of it!" Rita said sternly. "You're not acting you today, Charmander!"

"But-"  
"And that Drowzee was just trying to help those two brothers! He doesn't seem to be remotely bad, and why would he even harm those two?"

"I..." Charmander looked down. In every way, Rita was right. Drowzee didn't seem bad in the slightest, and Charmander was probably just making false accusations.

But that vision he just saw when Drowzee bumped into him...

"Charmander?" Rita asked with concern. She used a paw to bring his head up and made eye contact. She spoke in a soft, sincere voice, "I know I'm being harsh, but... you're different from other Pokémon. You were even a human before all of this! So I know that you probably don't really understand how everything works here, and that's why I want to make sure you don't go and mess something up bad."

Charmander didn't respond. They began to walk back to the guild in silence.

Once they had made it out of town, and out of earshot of any passerby, Charmander decided to ask, "You were so timid when I first met you,"

Rita just looked at Charmander with a What-Do-You-Mean? look.

"It's just, when we were trying to get your Relic Fragment back, you were so scared and nervous, and you acted nothing like how you treated me today." Charmander looked back at Rita. She understood what Charmander meant completely.

"I said it before, I just don't want to see you botch up," she quickly replied, and turned away from Charmander. He noticed the strange behavior immediately.

_There's a lot more to it than just. She must be leaving out something,_ Charmander meant to inquire further, but by then, the two had already made it back to the guild.

"Hey!" Chatot yelled after them, "Where have you two _been_? I have never seen a team take so long with preparations in all my career! The day's almost halfway gone, so you two go get some work done right away!"

It took every bit of willpower for Charmander not to go up to the feather-brain and tell him up front, Shut up, will ya? But he kept his complaints to himself.

Rita and Charmander went back to the Outlaw board.

"Looks like they changed the jobs," Rita said, noticing how some of the papers looked different.

Charmander eyes drifted across the board.

And then he saw it.

"Rita..."

"Huh? What is it Charmander? Did you find something we could do?"

Charmander simply pointed at the poster in the top-left corner.

"Oh my gosh, Charmander... you were right..."

"That Azurill," Charmander mumbled, suddenly realizing the Marill and Azurill brothers, "That Marill! C'mon, I'll explain later!" Charmander grabbed Rita and pulled her outside of the guild.

* * *

"What's gotten those two all worked up?" said a passing guild member as Charmander and Rita rushed up the ladder to the ground floor.

"Oh, the rookies? I don't know, they seemed all worked up over that new outlaw, Drowzee." said another guild member.

"Drowzee? Isn't he a rank B or A or something? Ha! Do those squirts really think they'll be able to take on an outlaw so out of their league?"

* * *

As Charmander and Rita ran out of the guild, Charmander explained his vision, "It was when that Drowzee bumped into me, I saw some kind of vision of him threatening Azurill at the top of Mt. Bristle."

"Then we're going to Mt. Bristle!" Rita said, and they made their way to Mt. Bristle.

On the way, they passed by a concerned Marill. He was alone. "Hey!" he called to the team, "Where are you two headed?"

"To save your brother!" Charmander called in return as they rushed past him.

* * *

Charmander and Rita kept running through Mt. Bristle, breezing through the first three floors and destroying any bad Pokémon that got in their way.

It was on the fourth floor when they finally found Drowzee and Azurill.

"Hey! Get away from Azurill!" Rita called out to the two of them. Drowzee and Azurill turned around.

"Oh! Hi Mister Charmander! You're the Pokémon that helped me when I fell!" Azurill said happily.

"Ah, it's you two," the Drowzee said calmly, very much unlike how a typical outlaw would act. "Azurill, will you please go on without me. Don't worry I'll catch up, but these nice people here would like to some grown-up stuff with me, all right?"

"Okay!" Azurill said, still happily, and continued ahead.

_Poor Azurill,_ Charmander thought, _Too naïve and innocent to understand that he's in a ton of danger..._

Drowzee just waved and watched Azurill forge ahead. Then he turned to face Charmander and Rita.

He bore the face of a cruel monster.

"I don't how you found out about my identity," Drowzee said evilly.

"I knew!" Charmander spoke up, "And you better not lay a _hand_ on that poor Azurill for whatever scheme you have in mind! He's just a baby Pokémon, and he doesn't understand yet that there are Pokémon like you who'll use them for evil purposes!"

There it was again. The brave words that seemed to flow naturally out of Charmander's mouth.

"I don't have time for this, I'll make your defeat quick," Drowzee said, raising a hand.

"Over my dead body!" Charmander said, ready to fire an ember at Drowzee.

"Disable!" Drowzee yelled at Charmander.

Charmander made to cough out an ember, but only a small puff of smoke came out. His move had been disabled, and now he was a sitting duck.

"You're dead now, kid." Drowzee said, smiling cruelly and raising a hand to Charmander. "Confusion!"

Charmander felt as if a hammer hit his head with the force of a god.

"Ah-AAAAHHH!" Charmander crumpled instantaneously to the ground, clutching his head and trembling badly.

"Charmander!" Rita called out. The Drowzee just smiled even wider.

"It looks like you two won't be much of annoyance any more. Since I'm so courteous, I'll leave you alive, girl." With that, Drowzee continued ahead to catch up with Azurill.

Rita was still standing over the crippled Charmander, who was still shivering madly.

"No, Charmander! Please get up, please! Charmander...!"

Charmander kept hearing her voice, but her words were muffled. Eventually, Charmander couldn't take it much longer.

He fainted.

* * *

Charmander's eyes snapped open. There was moonlight streaming through the window, his tail and a nearby torch providing light in the room.

He was back in the guild, laying on his bed of his and Rita's room. He tried to get up, but a surge of pain welled up in his forehead, and Charmander fell back down again, instinctively putting a hand to his forehead. There was an damp towel on his forehead, which helped a little, but Charmander could still feel some pain in his head.

Charmander continued to stay laying in bed, when he heard a set of footsteps a few minutes later. He saw Rita coming into the room holding a tray of apples.

"Rita...?"

"Oh my gosh! You're awake!" Rita ran over to Charmander and looked down at him, "Are you alright? Does you're head still hurt? I was so worried and-"

"Rita," Charmander interrupted quickly.

"Y-yes?"

"I'm fine, really. But you'll give me an even worse headache if you keep worrying like that."

"Oh, sorry," Rita said. She was reminded of when she first met Charmander, and how the first thing he said to her was to lower her voice. She felt the same as she said had now, and felt a little embarassed.

An awkward few moments passed by, where Rita went to get the tray of apples she had placed on the ground earlier. This time, she placed the tray next to Charmander's bed.

It was Charmander who broke the tension, "What happened after I... after I fainted? Please tell me Azurill..."

"We failed, Charmander." Rita said bluntly. "I was so worried about what happened to you that Drowzee managed to get away." Rita turned away. Charmander thought he saw a slight flash of water on Rita's face. "I'm sorry, I-"

"It's okay Rita, really," Charmander assured. "But... we need to go back. Now. That Azurill-" Charmander forced himself to get out of bed, ignoring the pain in his head, but before he could even sit up, Rita quickly bound up to him and jumped on top of him, holding him down.

"H-hey, Rita! What are you doing?!"

"Charmander, you can't." Rita said. She had a steely, serious look on her face, which made Charmander wonder if this was even the same Rita he had known from yesterday.

"But that Azurill-"

"Charmander you're hurt. It's already dark outside and Mt. Bristle is two hours from here. Drowzee and Azurill probably haven't reached the top of the mountain yet, so we should be able to catch up to them if we're fast, but right now you have to rest!"

A moment of silence passed before Charmander gave a quiet, "Okay."

Rita's mood immediately changed from that response, giving a large, cheerful smile. "Yay! Now here, I got you dinner. I already had mine," Rita nudged the tray of apples next to Charmander's bed.

"Thanks," Charmander said, turning over and grabbing an apple. He could still feel Chikorita's paws on his shoulders when she held him down. "Y'know, you didn't have tackle me just to convince me that I needed to get better. You could have just said so."

"Oh, well, I just..." Rita looked away quickly.

_There it is again! Rita's acting all flustered._ Charmander frowned, _Why does she keep doing that? Ugh, maybe I'll never know..._

After Charmander finished his dinner, he pushed the tray away, when a wave of fatigue washed over Charmander's body. "Damn, that Drowzee's attack really did a number on me. I'm exhausted..."

Charmander laid back in his bed and closed his eyes, while Rita picked up his empty tray and returned it to the mess hall. When Rita returned to their room, she saw Charmander curled up and breathing softly. He had fallen asleep, and he looked kinda cute to Rita. She walked up to him and took off the towel from his head. She threw it on top of the torch, putting it out. Only Charmander's tail gave a faint source of light.

Rita was about to go to her bed, when she stopped herself and looked at Charmander. After some self-conflict, Rita walked back to Charmander and laid down next to him, making herself comfortable before curling up next to him.

"Good night, and... I'm sorry." she whispered to him, before closing her large red eyes and drifting into sleep.

* * *

"**Friends will sit at the side of the pool to make sure you don't drown; Best friends will throw you a towel and push you in." A humorous little quote which basically explains why Charmander and Rita act like jerks to each other sometimes, yet still care very much for each other. Also, when I first fought Drowzee in the game, I uh... I failed. So I thought that the failure would be a great way to focus on the plot and relationship between Charmander and Rita. Hopefully it turned out well...**

**Anyways, now you see that Charmander and Rita have some very... dynamic attitudes, no? Charmander being brave during battle, but naïve in all other aspects, whereas Rita's practically the opposite, being timid in dungeons and battles, but has to practically teach Charmander some of the basic things of the world of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. To be honest, the natures of those two characters practically wrote themselves; I didn't even know how their attitudes were going to be like until I wrote this chapter.**

**So, how will Charmander react when he finds out Rita's decided to sleep with him tonight? Find out next time, when I find the time to update! (Which could take a few days or *gasp* a few weeks, or even months!). But if you review, I might post the next chapter faster! (Yeah, I'm REALLY shameless...). In all seriousness though, criticism on the relationship would be nice. So far, one person seems to think it's good so far, so that's good, I hope...**


	4. Charmander's Rage

**I changed the cover photo AGAIN!? Yeah, I know, I really need to find something and just settle with it, but when I found this picture I couldn't help but think it was perfect. It has a Charmander, a Chikorita, and both of them looking at the sky, kinda like their team name. A lot of the photo was cut off though, which bugs me, considering you can barely see the Charmander and the Chikorita's faces, but it'll have to do. Credit goes to Luz_Lunar on Photobucket for creating the picture. Sorry for not asking permission for using the photo, but you really made a great photo!**

**And one more note: I tend to be a bit... descriptive when it comes to writing battles. Because of that, the battle with Drowzee verges on a T rating at times, so if you can't handle that, you may skip over the battle and continue reading. But it shouldn't be _too_ bad...**

**Anyways, y'all get to see just how naïve Charmander is to love in this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: This again... I don't own Pokémon, have no affiliation with Nintendo, blah blah blah, happy now?**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Charmander's Rage**

Charmander nearly had a heart attack when he opened his eyes the next morning. Why? Because when he opened his eyes he came face-to-face with Rita. She was curled up next to him, and the leaf on her head was snuggled around Charmander's head, bringing their faces close together.

And to Charmander, it was awkward. Really awkward. Yeah, it was comfortable, but the fact that he was so close to Rita made him a bit... uneasy.

"Um... Rita?" Charmander whispered. He was sure Rita could hear him, considering how close the two of them were. "Rita?"

"H-hmm?" Rita said, slowly opening her eyes.

"Um, you're kinda... close..." Charmander said. _Man, does this feel weird..._

Rita suddenly remembered where she was, and she quickly jumped out of Charmander's bed in surprise. You'd think she was a fire-type with how red her face was.

"Oh! Ohmygosh! I didn't think you'd wake up so early..." Rita looked away, trying to hide her deep blush.

Charmander sat up, rubbing his head. It had healed from last night, but he might as well have been hit with another confusion attack with how dazed he was finding out he had slept next to Rita. It wasn't like he didn't like it, it just made Charmander confused as to why Rita had wanted to be so... close. He looked at Rita and gave her an expression that clearly said "Why?"

"I just thought... that maybe you needed some more warmth and comfort!" she gave Charmander a strained smile.

Charmander just frowned. _Yeah, nice try, but you're really bad at lying._ "Is that _really_ all there was to it?" he asked.

"Well, you just looked so comfortable and I thought it'd be nice of me to... help you recover by staying next to you." Rita's eyes still had a nervous look to it. Charmander could tell that there was still something she was leaving out.

"If you wanted to make me more comfortable, you either would've brought me a blanket or let me sleep in peace. Instead, you wanted to sleep next to me." Rita's blush started to turn into a deep red again. Charmander knew he was getting close to a truthful answer, so he continued, "Not only that, but you were _really_ close. You snuggled my head with your leaf and everything, and I don't think someone would go _that_ far just to provide me some extra 'warmth and comfort'."

Rita looked away again. She looked guilty, and Charmander felt a bit bad for being so interrogative, but he had to get an answer. "Is there another reason you slept so close to me?"

"I... Well..." If there was ever a time Rita had felt so embarassed in her life, this would be that time. Rita hoped that she would wake up early and leave Charmander's bed, as if nothing ever happened, but now Charmander's caught her in the act. Rita was about to speak, when-

"HEY! You two actually woke EARLY!" Loudred said, walking into their room. Upon seeing both Rita and Charmander's blushes, he stepped back a bit. "Oh, bad time? I'll go then, but make sure you're both not LATE to the morning briefing, ROOKIES!" With that, Loudred left the room.

There was a brief moment of silence, when Rita spoke up, "Um, he's right, we should head to the briefing." Rita hastily put on her green bow and waited for Charmander to put on his cyan scarf.

Charmander, however, felt like kicking something. He was _so_ close to finding out why Rita been acting so flustered with Charmander lately, and now he's missed his chance.

_Grrr... saved by the damn alarm clock..._ Charmander thought angrily to himself. Now that his chance was gone, he began to speculate to himself why Rita was acting so funny. _I... I wonder if she's in..._ Charmander shook his head, _No, that can't be. We've only known each for, what? Three days now? She can't possibly be..._

"Um, are you finished yet Charmander?" Rita asked politely. Charmander suddenly realized that he had zoned off after putting on his scarf, and Rita was waiting by the entrance of their room.

"Oh, yeah, I'm comin'..." Charmander said rather quietly. They both walked in silence to the morning briefing.

* * *

"We're here." Rita announced.

They stood up at the imposing Mt. Bristle. The mountain wasn't exactly tall, per se, but both Charmander and Rita remembered clearly what had happened in this mountain just yesterday.

For once, Charmander was actually nervous, and he instinctively took a step back.

"Charmander," Rita said, walking up to him "It's okay. This time, I won't let that Drowzee hurt you. I promise."

Rita looked so earnest and confident that Charmander felt an enormous sense of gratitude towards Rita. He smiled gratefully at her.

"'K, thanks," Charmander looked up one last at the mountain, and tried to put on his best brave face. "Let's go,"

* * *

"Mr. Drowzee, sir? Are you sure our lost item is all the way up there? And where did big brother go?" Azurill asked innocently.

"Oh, I'm sure your item's up there. I saw it myself! Just a few more floors and we'll be at the top, where we'll find your lost item! And Marill? Oh, he's just waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain." Drowzee lied.

"Okay!" Azurill replied, still oblivious to the danger he was in.

_Soon, I'll have all that treasure in that hidden cave! Now I just need to make sure no more distractions come soon. Those two kids from yesterday already wasted my time, I don't need any more setbacks..._ Drowzee thought evilly to himself.

* * *

"Charmander!"

"W-what?!"

"Don't eat that!" Rita snatched the seed from Charmander's claws. "You shouldn't just go eating everything you find, Charmander! This is the second time..."

"Well I'm _sorry_ for being curious..." Charmander retorted, "And I'm hungry. Our only lunch comes from the apples we eat off the floor..." Charmander shuddered just thinking about where those apples could have come from.

"Well, you'll just have to get used to it. Here's an apple I found earlier if you want," Rita said, handing him an apple.

_Of course she gives me an apple she found on the floor even though I _just_ said that I thought it was disgusting..._ Charmander took the apple anyways and began to take large bites out of it.

"What's that seed do anyways?" Charmander asked in between bites, taking the seed from Rita.

"It's an X-Eye seed. Unless you want the biggest eye pain in your life, don't eat it. And, uh, make sure you don't throw it either. Seeds have a tendency to explode on impact, affecting everything near the blast." Rita explained.

_Might be useful..._ Charmander held onto the seed as he finished the apple.

"We're close, Charmander! Look, I think we're reaching the peak!" Rita said, pointing to an upwards slope. They both ran up the slope, seeing Drowzee and Azurill in the distance.

Suddenly, Azurill let out a cry, "H-h-heeelp!"

_That's it! The scream I heard from yesterday! I knew it was Azurill!_ This gave Charmander a renewed sense of confidence, and he ran even faster towards the two of them.

"Hey!" he yelled once he and Rita were a few feet away from Drowzee. Drowzee turned around, and Azurill took the chance to run and hide in a far corner.

"You two! I thought I dealt with you yesterday!"

"We're not letting you hurt that Azurill!" It was Rita who spoke, much to Charmander's surprise, "You defeated us yesterday, but I swear we _will_ defeat you today!" There wasn't the slightest hint of a quiver in her voice.

"Rita..." Charmander said, wide-eyed and looking at Rita, "When did you...?"

"I'm not scared anymore, Charmander." Rita looked fiercely at Drowzee. "This Drowzee hurt you severely yesterday, and I'm going to make sure he doesn't get away with that!"

"Ha! Tough words, kid. But if you really are serious," Drowzee gave a maniacal smile. "Then just try to come at me!"

This fired up Charmander, and he got ready to shoot a red-hot ember at the Drowzee.

"When will you ever learn, kid?" Drowzee raised a hand at Charmander and yelled, "Disable!"

_Dammit! Not again!_ Charmander thought desperately as he coughed up a puff of smoke.

"This time, I'll make sure to finish you off!" Drowzee raised both hands at Charmander and used a long-lasting confusion attack on Charmander.

"AH-AAHHHH!" By the time Drowzee was finished, Charmander was in great pain, but he forced himself to keep standing, despite the enormous throbbing in his head.

"Hmph! So you held on, huh? No worries, one more should-"

"Leave him alone!" A dozen blades of razor leafs shot toward Drowzee, leaving deep cuts in Drowzee.

"Agh! You hit hard, you little..." Drowzee mumbled.

"I won't let you hurt him again! He's my closest friend and I promise to protect him from Pokémon like you!" Rita declared.

"Heh, determined and protective, aren't ya?" Drowzee said, clutching an oozing gash from the razor leaves. "Maybe I'll take you out first!"

Drowzee rushed forward, catching Rita off guard, and forcefully tackled Rita, sending her flying backwards and crashing into a rock.

"Now I'll finish you off!"

"No you DON'T!" Charmander yelled from behind, throwing the X-Eye seed at Drowzee. The moment it hit Drowzee, the seed exploded in a flash of multiple colors. When the colors had disappeared, Drowzee was standing and clutching his eyes. He began to stumble around, nearly falling over a couple of times.

_Knew that seed would be useful,_ Charmander thought to himself. He looked at Rita, and his heart dropped. She was badly bruised, and was lying down. She was definitely still alive, but badly hurt.

A wave of rage began to swell inside Charmander. This Pokémon, had tricked a poor Azurill, severely hurt Charmander yesterday, and now, had badly hurt Rita.

Charmander faced Drowzee, who was still stumbling around like an idiot. "You... You MONSTER!" Charmander screamed, and in that moment a crackling, blue fire emitted from Charmander's mouth, washing over the Drowzee. When Charmander had finished breathing the fire, the Drowzee was knocked out.

But Charmander was too angry to care. He released another wave of blue fire at the Drowzee.

"Charmander! _Charmander_! Stop! He's already knocked out!" Rita grabbed Charmander from behind with her vines and pulled him back. He struggled for a bit, but eventually calmed down.

_I... I just used Dragon Rage..._ Charmander thought, recognizing the move he had used. He then looked at Rita. "How did you heal yourself?"

"I learned a new move: Synthesis. Here, let me use it to heal you, your head must still hurt from that earlier confusion," Rita used Synthesis on Charmander, and he immediately felt as if a cloud had lifted from his head.

"Thanks, I needed that." Charmander said.

"Um... e-excuse me?" Azurill had come out from his hiding spot, and was now standing behind Charmander.

"Azurill!" Charmander exclaimed, picking him up. "Are you okay? Did that Drowzee hurt you?"

"No, but he lied to me! He said that he knew where our item was, but then he wanted me to go into that little hole over there for treasure." Azurill glanced at a dark hole behind him. "And then I screamed for help, and then you came and saved me, and-" Azurill stopped for a moment. "I want to go home."

_Azurill probably doesn't realize the harshness of the outside world yet. It's horrible that he had to experience all this at such a young age..._ Charmander thought to himself.

"It's okay. We'll get you to your brother and everything will be okay." Charmander assured.

"Charmander," Rita said from behind Charmander.

"Yeah?" he asked, putting Azurill on his shoulder.

"What should we do with Drowzee?" Rita looked at the knocked out Drowzee behind them. "I think you went just a _little _bit overboard there,"

"He deserved it," Charmander mumbled back in response, "Anyways, we'll bring him with us. Is there some kind of police station in this place?"

"Oh, yeah! The Pokémon Police Force, run by Magnezone!"

* * *

"Thank you for turning in this wanted outlaw to the authorities." Magnezone said.

Rita, Charmander, and Azurill had made it to the bottom of Mt. Bristle. Charmander had found out by accident that they could have just used their explorer badges to escape the mountain, which made the trek back much easier.

Drowzee was grumbling behind the Magnezone and a few sentry Magnemites as Magnezone continued to speak. "We will make sure this outlaw does not cause further harassment to society, and we'll send your reward to your guild. Again, we thank you for your cooperation." With that, Magezone, the Magnemites and Drowzee headed off.

"Azurill!"

"Marill!" Azurill scurried towards his older brother as fast as he could.

"What happened to you?" Marill asked nervously. "You've been gone for a whole day! Mom's been really worried!"

"Mister Charmander and Miss Rita saved me from Drowzee!"

"Drowzee? What happened with him?" Marill glanced at Charmander with a confused look, so Charmander explained what had happened with Drowzee.

"I can't believe it. That Drowzee tricked us!" Marill glanced at his little brother, "But, thank you two _so_ much for saving Azurill. If only we could repay you somehow..."

"Don't mention it!" Rita happily obliged. "As long as both you and Azurill are happy and safe, then we're happy."

"Oh thank you so much!" Marill said, tears of gratitude welling up in his eyes. "C'mon Marill, let's go back home."

Charmander and Rita watched the two brothers walk back to Treasure Town. "We should probably head back to the guild. Look," Rita pointed to the sky, "it's getting dark, we might be late for dinner."

"Oh no we don't, I'm starving!"

The two of them began the two hour trek back to the guild.

"Hey, Rita, I wanted to ask you something quickly." Charmander asked after an hour.

"Yes?" Rita began to wonder briefly if he was going to ask about her sleeping next to him in the morning, and her heart began pounding.

"I was wondering why there are so many bad Pokémon out here. That Drowzee seemed to be _really_ bad, but whenever we explore dungeons, there are always other weaker Pokémon that try to attack us at every chance we get. You seemed to know a lot about mystery dungeons, so..."

Rita's heart relaxed a bit. He was just asking about something simple. "Well, it's because time's starting to get all out of whack.

Charmander raised an eye at Rita. "Nice try, but really, why are there so many bad Pokémon?"

"I'm telling the truth Charmander! It's because time's getting affected everywhere. Nobody knows why, but it just is!"

Charmander frowned and looked hard at Rita. Her face showed that she was serious. "Okay, I'll believe you, but it still doesn't make sense. At all."

"Don't you know about the Time Gears?"

"I'm a human, remember? Well, _was_, but you still know how I don't know anything about being a Pokémon!"

Rita just smiled, "That's alright! I'll explain. The Time Gears help to keep the flow of time in order. They're located in hidden locations around the world, and nobody knows were they are. If somebody were to stumble across a Time Gear though..." Rita stared into the distance, as if imagining she was seeing a Time Gear herself, "Well, that Pokémon would know not to mess with it. If a Time Gear were to be stolen, then time in that area would just stop."

"So, are Time Gears being stolen or something?" Charmander asked.

"Oh, no! Of course not! Nobody would try to steal a Time Gear! Not even the most hardened criminal would mess with them! But we know something must be going wrong with time because of all the mystery dungeons and bad Pokémon that have been appearing." Rita explained.

Charmander just looked down. _None of this still makes sense, really. I don't understand how time seems to work with all of this..._

"Oh, Charmander, we're here!" Rita suddenly said. Sure enough, the cliff where the guild stood was only a few more minutes away.

_Speak of the devil,_ Charmander thought,_ I swear we still had an hour left before we reached the guild... maybe time really is being messed up..._

"Charmander? C'mon, we're almost there!" Rita called out from ahead.

Charmander chuckled to himself. _Or maybe I'm just ignorant, who knows?_

"I'm coming!" Charmander yelled back, sprinting to catch up. _I wonder what Chimecho made for dinner today?_

* * *

"I heard the great news! Hee hee!" Chatot said excitedly. He had held back Charmander and Rita from dinner to tell them of the "great news". "I heard about how you two managed to defeat a rank A outlaw! We managed to get 3000 Pokédollars from that!"

"We only did it to help that Azurill." Rita said modestly.

"Of course! Now, here's your share of the pay!" Rita handed the two of them 300 Pokédollars.

_Ninety percent again?_ Charmander thought, annoyed at being ripped off again.

"Now you two head off to dinner and make tomorrow another good day!" Charmander and Rita both said okay, and they headed off to eat dinner.

Once they had finished eating and said good night to the other apprentices, the two of them made their way back to their room.

Charmander removed his scarf and flopped onto his bed. "Ow! Arceus... I forgot our beds were made of hay..." He then stretched out and let a a huge yawn. "That fight with Drowzee really made me tired, so I'm going to sleep now." Charmander curled up on his bed. "Good night, Rita."

No response. Charmander opened an eyelid and saw Rita just staring at Charmander oddly. He sat up and rubbed one of his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Rita hesitated a bit before answering. "Well, you see, it's just that... when you mentioned Drowzee, I forgot to tell you that... I'm sorry, Charmander!"

This just made Charmander even more confused. "Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"I was terrible to you yesterday," Rita said. She looked to be on the verge of tears, "You had that vision of Drowzee being an outlaw, and I just treated you as if you were crazy, and in the public too. I... I doubted you, and-"

"Whoa, hold on Rita," Charmander interrupted. He gave a small smile, "Who said I hated you for not believing me?" No response. "Exactly. Look, I don't mind that you didn't believe me that day. Now that I think about it, it's only natural that you would doubt me."

"But that's why I feel bad!" Rita said, walking up to Charmander. "We're supposed to be partners, but I didn't trust you when you were right this whole time..." Her eyes were beginning to get a little puffy now.

_Man, she's being so hard on herself... It was just a small mistake on her part._ Charmander decided of a ways to cheer her up. "Rita, look, I forgive you!" Charmander said, trying to place emphasis on the words. "How about this, from now on, I'll forgive everything you do that may hurt me."

"... But that still doesn't change how I may still doubt you in the future." Rita said, looking away, "We're a team, Charmander. But I don't know if I could live with myself knowing that I still doubt you..."

_She's still upset?!_ Charmander thought incredulously. _She must be really serious about our trust for each other..._ "Okay..." Charmander said, "Then how about from now on, you'll also have to trust me with everything we do, no matter how ludicrous, insane, or just plain stupid it might seem. I promise that everything I say is sincere, and that I'll try to help both of us move forward as an exploration team, but you'll just have to trust me when I say so."

Rita looked at Charmander for a second, before responding with a firm, "Okay!"

"Finally..." Charmander fell back down onto his bed. "That took a while. Seriously Rita, don't be so hard on yourself. I don't see why you're being so serious about all this. It was just a small mistake." Rita blushed and looked away, but luckily for her, Charmander hadn't noticed. His eyes were already closed.

"Now I'm _really_ tired." Charmander said, curling up. "Drowzee and his confusion attacks, you getting all worked up over nothing... Yaaaaawwn... Good night, Rita..." He fell asleep in record time.

Rita debated with herself as to whether she should try to sleep with him again, but this time she decided against it.

_He needs some rest alone,_ Rita thought to herself as she lay down on her own bed. _I just wish he knew that I was just "getting worked up" over a lot more than nothing. This is our trust as a team, and..._ Rita blushed a little. _… maybe a little more than just our trust..._ She glanced over at Charmander, who was cutely clutching his tail and murmuring in his sleep. It looked like he was having some kind of nightmare, and Rita had to fight with herself not to go over there and comfort him herself. She briefly wondered how this scared-looking Charmander was able to be so brave during battle.

Rita yawned. She glanced at Charmander one more time and whispered, "Good night, Charmander." Rita quickly fell asleep soon after.

* * *

**Bleh... This chapter wasn't my best. Oh well, hopefully next chapter makes up for it. Why? 'Cause we'll be seeing a new member to the team next chapter! This team member's always used as the third team member in my main game, and that's currently how my main team is: Charmander, Rita, and the third team member. I'll give a hint for the third team member: he's encountered in Waterfall Cave. No, he's not going to be a random filler character for the team, I did develop his character. His role in the story will be... interesting, to say the least.**

**Also, for any of you diehard Pokémon fans out there, I know that (for the average player), Charmander doesn't learn Dragon Rage until after beating Drowzee, unless you've been doing some serious level grinding. But this is a fanfiction, dammit, open your minds a bit more!**

**As usual, reviews and criticism are much appreciated, especially criticism. As I said before, I don't think this chapter was very... well-written. Overall though, I'm very grateful for the reviews I've already gotten. They're _very_ encouraging, and I am taking any criticism into account! (Even if I've only gotten one suggestion as of writing this). So, yeah, thank you for all of that!**


	5. The New Recruit

**Oh God, I wrote a monster of a chapter. This chapter took WAY longer than I expected, and it turned out a lot longer too. As usual, I leave the quality of the chapter to all of you to decide. This chapter focuses more on the plot of the game then the actual romance itself, but there are still little hints here and there about the pairing. Anyways, hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I'm honestly out of humorous things to say about the disclaimer at the moment, so I'll just say it: I don't own Pokémon, and all rights go to Nintendo and Game Freak.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The New Recruit**

"The footprint is, um... I think Torchic's!"

"You THINK? You _THINK?!_ I don't take THINKS!"

"Charmander, hurry! He's about to blow!"

"How the heck am I supposed to know whose footprint that is out of the hundreds of Pokémon that exist?!" Charmander retorted.

Two days have passed since Team Skye defeated Drowzee. Since then, Chatot decided to reward the two by promoting them to bronze rank and giving them a larger treasure bag. Other than that, the excitement sort of died down, and they went back to a normal routine. They mainly did the same throughout each day: wake up deaf, do a few jobs in the mystery dungeon, eat dinner, sleep, rinse and repeat.

And now, Charmander and Rita were doing sentry duty with Loudred. Usually, Diglett did this job, but he was busy, so Loudred asked the two of them to fill Diglett's post. The job involved going to to the third underground floor of the guild, (which was under the wooden grating outside of the guild), and finding out the footprint of any Pokémon that wanted to enter the guild. They would then shout to Loudred, who stood on the second underground floor of the guild, who they thought the Pokémon was.

Needless to say, it wasn't going very smoothly. Charmander wasn't the best at footprint identification, and Rita was always the one who was able to save the two of them before Loudred decided to give them permanent deafness.

"Oh! The footprint is Combusken's!" Rita suddenly called.

"Finally! You got it RIGHT!" Loudred went off to see whether the Combusken was safe or not. "Ugh, Loudred makes this job seem harder than any other exploration we've done..." Charmander said, sighing.

"Don't let him hear that!" Rita said.

"Fine..." Charmander muttered in reply.

After a few minutes, Loudred returned. "Alright, you two are FINISHED for the day!"

Charmander and Rita climbed back to the second underground floor of the guild, where Loudred and Chatot were waiting for them.

"Well, you two seemed to perform decently at sentry duty!" Chatot said.

_Loudred looks like he would beg to differ..._ Charmander thought, noting how dissatisfied Loudred was looking at the two of them.

"Here is your compensation for the day." Chatot handed them 700 Pokédollars and a load of items that would have cost a fortune at Kecleon Market.

"Wow! Can we really have this much?" Rita asked.

"Of course! Now you two get to dinner!" Chatot replied as he and Loudred proceeded to the Mess Hall, Charmander and Rita quickly following suit.

By the time they were finished eating, Charmander and Rita headed back to their room.

"We really got a lot from doing sentry duty today." Rita commented, walking over to her bed. "Of course, I'd still prefer exploration over anything else! There's always a sense of mystery and excitement from exploring!"

Charmander walked over to his own bed, took off his cyan scarf and laid down.

"Yeah..." he said, his hands behind his head. "But when are we going to do something new? It's always just been jobs so far..."

"That's what I want to know. I'm still hoping that we do an _actual_ exploration too." Rita said, sighing.

Charmander knew what she meant. After all, he still remembered all the hopes and dreams Rita told him the first day they met: to explore hidden places, find secret treasures, and find out the secret of that Relic Fragment of hers.

Compared to all of that, it's been pretty dull at the guild. That's not to say that every day wasn't an adventure; Charmander and Rita certainly had many exciting moments while they were at the guild. They even got acquainted with some of the other guild members besides Loudred and Chimecho. There was Bidoof, who was apparently the rookie at the guild before Charmander and Rita showed up. He had a strange accent to Charmander, always saying "golly" and "yup yup" in every sentence, but he was very kind.

Then there was Sunflora. She seemed to be happy nearly all the time, even when something bad happened. She was delighted at finding out that Team Skye was the newest exploration team to the guild, even saying that "they're SO cute!" (much to Charmander and Rita's embarrassment).

There were numerous others: Croagunk, who seemed to laugh creepily all the time and ran a shop in the guild (although he wouldn't open it until "it was ready"), Corphish, who seemed rough on the outside but was kind on the inside, and Dugtrio, the proud father (or fathers?) of Diglett.

"Hey, Charmander?" Rita asked, interrupting Charmander's thoughts. "You're still okay about the fact that we hadn't found anything about... you? Your past?" she quickly looked away. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend-"

"No, I'm fine, really." Charmander replied. He was speaking the truth. You'd think that after nearly a week of being an amnesiac, he would have lost his mind by now. But Charmander was holding up surprisingly well. He thanked his adventures at the guild for occupying him, even though he _was_ a little upset at not having nearly any leads on his past.

"Alright, well, I'm tired now. Let's just try to make tomorrow another good day, and maybe we'll finally get a _real_ exploration soon!" Rita seemed to burst with excitement at the thought. "Good night, Charmander."

"Night,"

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!"

"Ugh..." Charmander mumbled. He had gotten used to Loudred's morning cry... somewhat. Charmander still wanted to tell Loudred to shut up one of these mornings, but he kept his mouth shut for his and Rita's sake.

"Good morning, Charmander..." Rita said woozily.

"Morning,"

The usual routine. Get dressed, assemble with the rest of the guild and shout the morning cheers.

… Well, it was going normally until Chatot said that he had an... announcement to make right after the morning cheers. He seemed a bit nervous as he faced the guild members.

"Er, ahem. Everyone, I have an announcement to make." He swept his gaze once again at the guild members. Everyone was quiet, wondering what the announcement could possibly be.

"Far to the northeast," Chatot continued, "and even farther than that, lies a place called Treeshroud Forest. And in this forest... time has apparently stopped."

A collective gasp emitted from the guild members, and conversation immediately insued.

"What?" said a flustered Sunflora.

"You said time's _stopped_? Hey hey hey." Corphish said incredulously.

Once the conversation died down, Chatot continued, "Yes, that's right. Time has come to a standstill on Treeshroud Forest. The wind has stopped, the clouds are motionless... even the dewdrops on leaves refuse to fall. They just hang, suspended. Yes, in this forest, time itself has stopped."

_How is that even possible? For time to just... stop?_ Charmander thought to himself as everyone erupted into conversation once again.

"How do you think something like this could've happened?" Rita whispered to Charmander.

"I... I'm not sure. I'm not even sure if this is all even real..." Charmander said, still having some doubt even though his pumping heart told him otherwise.

Suddenly, Rita's eyes widened, and she spoke quickly, "Y-you don't think that maybe-"

"It's unthinkable!" Sunflora suddenly exclaimed.

"Yes, the unthinkable has happened." Chatot explained. "Why has time stopped in Treeshroud Forest? There's only one reason. Treeshroud Forest's Time Gear was..." Chatot paused for a second. He noticed how everyone was staring at him with anxiousness and how everyone was holding their breath. It was dead silent.

With a grim face, Chatot said the final word. "Stolen!"

Another uproar.

"Huh?! Golly, how..."

"The Time Gear was stolen?!"

"That must'a made time stop, hey hey!"

"I heard it was possible, but I never thought it would actually happen!"

"I don't get it, though! Why would ANYONE steal a Time Gear!"

Even though there were only ten apprentices, it sounded like a million voices were speaking. Charmander was having his own conversation with Rita.

"I knew it!" Rita said, "The only reason time could have stopped was if somebody stole a Time Gear."

"But why would _anybody_ do that?" Charmander asked rhetorically. "You said it yourself; nobody would dare mess with the Time Gears..."

"Quiet! Quiet, please!" Chatot suddenly shouted. "Officer Magnezone has already started an investigation." This made everyone feel a little better. A little. "It may be difficult to believe that anybody would still a Time Gear," Chatot continued, "and there's still the question as to why, but one thing is clear: If this one Time Hear is stolen, then the others may be in danger too. The officer requests that we report any suspicious individuals, and we ask that you keep a look out too.

"That is all," Chatot said, finally finishing. "All right everyone, here's to another busy day of work!" he said traditionally.

"HOORAY!" Everyone yelled, even though they were all feeling uneasy on the inside. Everyone gradually dispersed except for Charmander and Rita.

"Hey, you two! Come over here, please!" Chatot said to the two of them. They walked over to Chatot. "I've noticed that you two have been your work exceptionally well lately. I'm _really_ impressed with your capture of Drowzee! I'll say it again, it was very admirable!" Charmander and Rita were pleased by the complement. "I think it's time that you two are finally assigned a task worthy of an exploration team."

Rita gasped. "R-really!? Yay!"

Charmander was happy too, mainly for Rita. After a long week, she had finally gotten what she wanted – a proper exploration.

"Open you Wonder Map, please." Chatot requested. Charmander did so, laying out the map on the floor.

"This here is Treasure Town, as you can see," Chatot said, pointing to a small town on the map a little south from the guild. "Where you are going is here," This time, Chatot pointed to a spot to the northeast of Treasure Town. The spot where he pointed had a picture of a waterfall.

"There's a waterfall here, see?" Chatot pointed out, "Now, it just looks like an ordinary waterfall, but we've received intelligence that the waterfall may actually just be hiding a secret." Chatot closed the map and handed it back to Charmander. "And that's where you two come in! I want to you two to investigate the waterfall and determine what secrets the waterfall may be hiding. Do you understand?"

"Yep. Understood." Charmander replied. He looked at Rita, who hadn't responded.

She was shivering.

"Gah! What's wrong? Are you all right?" Chatot suddenly asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. I-it's just the anticipation. It's making me so nervous!" Rita said, still shivering with excitement.

_Arceus, she suddenly turned back into timid Rita again! It's been a while since I saw her act this way..._ Charmander thought to himself.

"Well, if that's all it is, then don't worry! I'm sure you two will be fine. Now, I leave the rest up to you two!" Chatot said cheerily as Charmander and Rita made their way to the first underground floor of the guild.

"I can't believe it! I feel like I'm about to burst! We finally get to go on our very first real exploration!"

Rita kept talking on overdrive, and Charmander just listened politely. It was nice to know that Rita was feeling good about all of this.

"Oh, Charmander! And Rita too! Could you come here?" Chimecho called from a corner of the first underground floor.

_Another request?_ Charmander wondered to himself.

The two of them walked over to Chimecho. She seemed to have built a small little shop-looking place in this corner of the room.

"What's going on here?" Rita asked.

"I just started an assembly today!" Chimecho explained. "Let me ask: have both of you considered of adding members to the team?"

"Adding members?" Rita thought for a moment. "I do think that it'll probably be helpful."

Charmander agreed. More team members would be a lot more helpful with jobs. Especially those stupid water and rock-type dungeons.

"Really? Then I'll be able to help you! All I have to do is ring this Friendship Bell!" Chimecho ringed a bell. "There! Now you can recruit more team members! All you have to do is defeat an enemy Pokémon in a dungeon. If you're lucky, that Pokémon will gain respect for you and ask to join your team. You can come over to me when you want to organize your team!"

"Wow, really? Thank you!" Rita positively delighted.

"Thanks!" Charmander also said. _Not exactly sure how that worked, but if it helps us, I'll take it!_

Charmander and Rita made their way out of the guild. They noticed how there seemed a Spinda, and Wynaut, and a Wobbufet building something near Treasure Town, but they ignored it for the time being. Right now, all they were focused were the preparations for their first official exploration.

* * *

"We're here!" Rita announced with excitement.

It was just as Chatot said it would be – an enormous waterfall pouring down from a large cliff face. They stood at the bottom of the waterfall, where the water poured onto an outcropping of rock and off the sides into a river below them.

"Apparently there's supposed to be some kinda secret here..." Charmander said. "It looks like a pretty normal place to me." He swept his gaze around. There was the waterfall, there was the cliff, there was the river a few feet below them...

Nothing seemed to particularly special about this place.

They walked closer to the waterfall, and the roaring quickly pounded in their ears. They had to yell to be able to hear each other. "I wonder if..." Rita began walking closer to the waterfall.

"Um, Rita? I don't think that's-!"

"Aiee!" Rita yelped, sprawling backwards. "The water's really pouring down hard!"

"No, _really_?!" Charmander said, smirking a little.

"Try it yourself. You'll see!" Rita said, slightly annoyed.

Charmander gave Rita an incredulous look. "Why would anybody do that? I'm not just gonna- Um, Rita, why are you looking at me like that? ..."

_Shove!_

"Ack!" Charmander sprawled backwards after being doused by the waterfall. "Are you trying to kill me, Rita!?"

Rita just gave a cheery expression. "You're alive, aren't you?"

"But I could've drowned!" Charmander pouted.

"Aw, don't be like that! Cheer up a bit, we're on our first official exploration!"

_It'd be nicer if I knew my partner wasn't trying actively to kill me..._ Charmander thought sarcastically. He was still cold from being in the waterfall, and he began to feel a little headache. At first, Charmander thought it as from his earlier pounding from the falling water, but the headache began to get worse.

_My head...! I'm getting a weird feeling._

Rita sighed to herself. "But I'm not sure how we're going to be able to explore here. There doesn't seem to be much except this giant waterfall..."

Charmander's was too bothered about his headache to hear Rita though. _I remember this feeling! It was when... Ack!_

_ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-__FLASH!_-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

_A lone figure stands on an outcropping of land. The figure had large, pointy ears and an oval-shaped body. In front of the outcropping stands a raging waterfall. The figure takes a few steps back, rushes towards the waterfall, and dives through!_

_ But instead of drowning, the figure emerges into a hidden cave on the other side of the waterfall! The figure gets up, looks around, and continues on deeper into the hidden cave._

* * *

Charmander gasped suddenly to himself. _It was another one of those visions!_ Charmander looked down at himself. He was still standing, instead of lying down and trembling the last time he had one of those visions. _Maybe I'm getting used to whatever these visions are... but still, what did I just see?_

Rita noticed Charmander's large gasp, and she turned to him. "Huh? What's wrong, Charmander?"

"I saw something... it was another one of those visions, like the one I had of Drowzee and Azurill."

"You had another vision!?" Rita asked suddenly. "What did you see?"

"I saw a Pokémon jump into the waterfall, but instead of drowning, he – or maybe she – tumbled into some kind of hidden cave on the other side."

"A hidden cave...?!" Rita stared at the waterfall, and she had a sliver of doubt. "But what if it's nothing, what if..."

"It's our only lead." Charmander said. He looked confidently at the waterfall, and took a few steps back, "It might be nothing, but so far these visions have helped us. I'm ready, but only when you are."

Rita suddenly remembered the promise she had with him three days ago. To trust Charmander no matter how insane or even stupid the idea might be. Rita immediately felt bad that she almost broke that promise, and that she would even _think_ of doubting Charmander.

Rita finally became courageous herself. She looked at Charmander, who was still waiting for her expectantly.

"Alright. I'm ready." she said, taking a few steps back placing herself next to Charmander.

"Okay then. I'll count down." Charmander said. They both stared at the water, their hearts pumping at the daredevil stunt they were about to pull. But they threw away their fears and concentrated on the task at hand.

"One," Charmander said.

"Two," This time, it was Rita who said it.

"Three!" They both yelled before rushing forward and diving through the waterfall.

… And emerged on the other side! Rita, slightly dazed, stood up and took a look around. Just as Charmander said, they were now inside a hidden cave.

"Charmander you were right!" she rushed over to Charmander and gave him a hug. "I can't believe it, there really is a secret mystery dungeon here! … Charmander?"

Charmander was still sitting, and he was shivering even as Rita hugged him. "I... h-hate water..." he muttered.

Rita didn't know whether to laugh or to feel sorry.

Suddenly, Charmander's eyes widened, and he stared at the entrance to the hidden dungeon. "Wait, d-don't tell me this dungeon..."

"Yep!" Rita said cheerily. "Water-type dungeon!"

* * *

"I... don't need... another Oran berry!"

"Yes you do! Here... Charmander, you're hurt!"

"I'm not going to die from the hands of _water_ of all things! We used up three of our Oran berries already, and I'm not going waste another one!"

"Can we at least wait until your better? The flame on your tail's almost out."

"Ugh, fine..." Charmander looked at his tail. She was right, the flame was dangerously close to being put out. He sat down in the room they were in and waited for himself to heal while Rita stood guard for any Pokémon that decided to attack.

The two of them had already traversed five floors of the dungeon, heading deeper into the hidden Waterfall Cave. They had already used up three of the five Oran berries they brought along, mainly because of all the water-types. Seeing as Charmander was a fire-type, nearly all of the enemy Pokémon focused their attacks on him, and even Rita had a hard time protecting Charmander from the onslaught of water. Nevertheless, Charmander was able to hold his ground, even if it meant using up a few Oran berries.

However, once they had reached the underground floor 6 of the dungeon, they couldn't find the exit to the next floor. They could swear that they had searched the entire floor, but they just couldn't find the exit to the next floor even if they're life depended on it.

A few minutes passed. Charmander began to feel a little better, and the flame on his tail was beginning to burn brighter, allowing more light to fill the dim cavern.

And that was when they began to hear footsteps approaching from one of the corridors in the room.

"Ugh, hopefully it's not a water-type..." Charmander mumbled, getting to his feet.

"No! Charmander, I'll take care of the Pokémon. It's no use if you get hurt, it'll just waste the time you spent trying to heal." Rita said, trying to push Charmander back.

"Alright," Charmander gave in. He stood a few feet behind Rita, but he mentally prepared himself to jump to Rita's aid if need be.

The footsteps became louder, and then the Pokémon suddenly showed itself. "Hello-ooooo!"

It was a Wooper. Unlike the other bad Pokémon they had met, this one wore some clothing: a bright red scarf around its neck. Based on its voice, the Wooper sounded like a he, and he seemed to be slightly younger than Charmander and Rita.

Most of all though, the Wooper looked _very_ cheerful, much unlike all the other bad Pokémon they encountered. He didn't seem like a bad Pokémon.

"Um... hi?" Rita said, confused as to whether she should act kind in return or if she should try to be tough.

"I'm Wooper! I've been following you two since the fourth underground floor of this dungeon!" Wooper said happily.

_You've been following us for a whole three floors?!_ Charmander thought to himself.

"And... I like your team! Can I join it?" Wooper asked.

"H-huh?" Rita said, surprised. She was expecting some kind of attack, but instead, it was a straight-up request to be a new team member. It seemed a bit sudden, and very unexpected, so she turned around and looked at Charmander questioningly.

Charmander was also surprised, but as he thought about it, he thought it would be a good idea to let this Wooper join. He was a water-type, which would make their team a fire, grass, and water-type combo. And besides, it's not like they would just deny the Wooper's request. This was their first request for a new recruit to the team.

"I think we should let him join," Charmander said. "Rita?"

"Um..." she seemed to think for a moment before coming to a decision, "Okay! You can join our team! I guess we should introduce ourselves then. I'm Rita, and this here's Charmander."

"Yay!" Wooper said, jumping happily. But he suddenly stopped. "Wait... I want to see for myself whether you really are a good team or not. I want you to battle me!"

"Huh? Um... okay, I'll battle you," Rita getting ready to fight.

"No no! Not you, I meant _you_!" Wooper said, nodding his head in Charmander's direction.

"W-wait, you want to battle me?" Charmander asked.

"Yeah! If you are a good team, then I want to see if you can defeat me one-on-one with a type disadvantage!" Wooper said happily.

"But he's hurt! And that's not fair if you-" Rita began trying to prevent Charmander from fighting, but he stopped her.

"Rita, it's alright. I'll fight him, even if it's at a type disadvantage. Besides, it wouldn't be fair for him if _you_ fought him."

"Then at least have an Oran berry before fighting." Rita appealed.

"I'm fine now, Rita," Charmander said, smiling and slightly rolling his eyes. "Alright Wooper. I'll battle you."

"Yay!" Wooper exclaimed, heading to one side of the room while Charmander stood on the other side. Rita stood in a corner and watched anxiously.

Not knowing how else the start the battle, Charmander shot an ember at Wooper, but Wooper simply skipped to the side, avoiding the attack.

"Bor-iiing!" the Wooper exclaimed. In retaliation, he began splashing mud all over the room, but it wasn't enough to actually hurt Charmander.

"Mud Sport?" Charmander said out loud, shielding himself from the pieces of dirt flying towards his body. It's not like the dirt hurt him, he just didn't want to get dirty. "But I'm not even an electric-type."

"But it's so fun to use!" Wooper exclaimed, still playing happily in a pile of mud he had created.

Charmander stared at Rita with an incredulous look, giving an Is-This-Kid-Okay? look. Rita also looked perplexed, but she just gave Charmander a Well-Now-You-Can-Defeat-Him! face. Charmander just shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, Whatever-You-Say.

Knowing that it would be useless to try and use fire-type moves, he instead came close to Wooper and used scratch. He didn't do it enough to hurt Wooper _too_ badly. Wooper just seemed too happy and jolly too hurt badly. Nonetheless, there was a small gash on Wooper's chest, and he stepped back, wincing in pain.

"Ow, not fair! That hurt!"

_You were the one who wanted to battle!_ Charmander thought in retaliation.

"Fine, I'll be serious now!" Wooper said, putting on a serious face. He suddenly shot a jet of water from his mouth towards Charmander.

"Look out!" Rita yelled at Charmander, but he was already prepared. He rolled to the side, dodging attack. He quickly leaped towards Wooper afterwards and scratched him again. This led to Wooper stumbling back once again, and to shoot another jet of water at Charmander.

This went on back and forth. Charmander scratching Wooper, Wooper shooting water at Charmander, only to have Charmander dodge out of harm's way. Rita watched with anticipation, awaiting who would finally become defeated.

Until it finally happened. Wooper shot a fast, powerful burst of water at Charmander, and this time Charmander wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack. He was was doused with the water, and knocked back into a wall so hard he fell into a sitting position, his head facing down.

"Charmander!" Rita exclaimed in worry. He was trembling badly, and she wanted so badly to run over to him and help in any way possible. Wooper walked up to Charmander with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

"Aww," he said, "I thought your team would be a good team to join... Oh well, maybe it's not so great after all."

"RRAAHH!" Charmander suddenly lifted his head and breathed blue flames onto Wooper's body. Charmander wasn't angry, but he was determined to win this battle. When he had finished, Wooper just stood there, scorched and with his mouth agape. Suddenly, he put on a big smile.

"Wow, that was awesome! You _are_ a great team! I'm glad to be a part of it!"

Charmander was skeptical. "Ack! That should have knocked you out. How are you still standing?"

"Charmander, look!" Rita was looking inside their Treasure Bag. Charmander forced himself up and walked over to her while Wooper happily bounced around. "I brought a Reviver Seed with us just in case, but now it's gone!"

"That that must mean..." They both glanced at Wooper, who was still hopping circles. "Heh, looks like he really is a part of our team after all. No wonder he survived that Dragon Rage." Charmander said.

"Well, that's good!" Rita said happily before looking at Charmander. "But are you okay? That Water Gun looked like it really hurt." Rita got out an Oran Berry from the Treasure Bag with her vines.

"I'm fine, just give me some time to rest and- Mmf!" Charmander quickly swallowed the Oran Berry shoved into his mouth. "You coulda just asked..."

Rita just gave him a quick hug. "You wouldn't have ate it if I asked. Don't you feel better either way?"

Charmander smiled lightly. "Yeah, I guess so." He glanced at Wooper, who was watching the two of them with profound interest, head cocked and mouth slightly agape.

"What's wrong?" Charmander asked. Wooper just smiled.

"Nothing!" he replied. "Now let's go do something! Maybe find some treasure!" he said cheerily.

"Don't you live here?" Rita asked Wooper as she released herself from Charmander.

"Nope!" Wooper replied.

"Then how'd you get in here?"

"I saw a large, pink Pokémon come in here once. After that, this became my favorite place to go to when I was bored!" Wooper explained. "But I never go past the seventh underground floor in this dungeon. The Pokémon down there are scary! But that shouldn't be a problem with three of us!"

_He saw another Pokémon come in here before?_ Charmander thought to himself.

"But I do know where the exit for this floor is! Follow moi!" Wooper exclaimed, leading the way to the next floor.

_I think I'll need some time to get used to him._ Charmander thought, scratching his head.

* * *

They made it underground floor 8 of the dungeon. Wooper provided a big help to the team, although Charmander had to tell Wooper not to use Mud Sport anymore – it was practically useless, despite Wooper protesting that it was "fun to use" ("Wooper, you're kinda just getting me and Rita dirty when you use that move...").

There was another strange thing about Wooper. Rita was acting like her protective self again, not letting Charmander stray too far from her, and when he did, she would pull him back with her vines. Charmander just assumed that Rita was being protective of Charmander and didn't want him to be jumped by some water-type Pokémon while he was alone, where Rita couldn't help him. Wooper, however, stared strangely whenever Rita was acting protective. When Charmander asked what was wrong, he would just smile, say "Nothing!", and continue on his jolly way.

"Did you tell something to Wooper?" Charmander asked Rita while Wooper was forging ahead. Normally, Charmander led the way due to his tail acting as a portable torch and that he was the best fighter of the three of them. But Wooper was feeling especially cheerful this floor, so Charmander let him go on ahead.

"No." Rita replied, looking at Charmander questioningly. "Well, besides that complement I gave him earlier on being so enthusiastic. Other than that, not really anything else that important. Why, do you want me to tell him about you're secret?"

"I guess we could tell him about me being human sometime later... but that's not what I meant. It's just that-"

"Hey, I found the exit to the next floor!" Wooper called out from ahead. "Hurry up! I'm dying from waiting!"

"I'll tell you later." Charmander told Rita. They caught up with Wooper and headed to the next floor.

The next floor was amazing, to say the least. Gems sparkled in scattered directions, each individual gem giving off a wondrous glow of any color in the rainbow. The entire floor itself was huge, and the three of them wandered in amazement.

"Whoa," was all Charmander could say.

"This place looks amazing!" Rita exclaimed as she looked at the spectacle. Wooper was just staring at a bright blue gem embedded in the floor, eyes wide and letting out an "Ooh!" as he stared.

"Look over there!" Rita said. She ran to the far side of the room, and the other two followed her. On the other side was a large, magenta-colored gem embedded into the wall. The gem was easily twice the size of Charmander.

"This is the biggest gem I've ever seen!" Rita said, slowly walking up to the gem. "I wonder if we'll be able to take this back to the guild. Everyone will be amazed!" Rita wrapped her vines around the gem and began pulling with all her might.

The other two watched her as she kept pulling, but the gem refused to budge one bit, no matter how hard she tried. "Ugh!" she finally said, letting go of the gem. She was panting slightly. "This gem... it won't move one bit! Why don't you try, Charmander? Please?"

"Um, okay." Charmander walked up to the gem and began pulling as hard as he could. The outcome was the same: the gem refused to move. Charmander wasn't about to give up easily though, and he kept pulling, only to slip on his grip and fall backwards onto the floor.

"Hahahah!" Wooper burst out laughing.

"Hey, it's not my fault, that gem is really hard to move! You try!" Charmander shouted at Wooper angrily.

"I don't have arms!" Wooper replied happily.

_It's amazing how happy he is about that too..._ Charmander thought after Wooper said that.

"Looks like you couldn't move the gem either..." Rita said disappointingly. "Well, I'll try again! Maybe something will happen," Rita continued her efforts to get the gem.

"I don't just pulling will work," Charmander said, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Ooh! Maybe it's a puzzle, or some secret switch, or...!" Wooper began listing off a whole plethora of possibilities on how the gem could be removed.

Charmander wasn't listening though. As he thought to himself, he felt a familiar sensation. _Ack! I'm getting that feeling again... I think..._

_-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-__FLASH!_-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

_The same pointy-eared figure stood in a room full of gems. The figure was standing in front of a particularly large, magenta-colored gem. The figure stepped forward, but instead of pulling, the figure gently pushed the gem, releasing an audible _click!

_ Immediately, the entire room began to tremble, and an enormous wave of gushing water emerged from the eastern side of the room! The figure was quickly caught up in the wave and swept away._

* * *

_Another vision!_ Charmander thought in surprise. _But... if what I saw was true, then...!_

"I wonder what will happen if I do this..." Rita gently pushed the gem.

"Rita, no!" Charmander exclaimed, rushing over to Rita.

_Click!_

"Son of a Snubbull..." Charmander silently cursed, for it was already too late, and the entire room began to rumble.

"L-Look!" Rita exclaimed, pointing to the eastern side of the room, where they saw an enormous wave of gushing water heading towards them. "A flood! We have to get out of here!"

They began to run for the instead, but the flood was faster. They were quickly swept up in the flood.

"AAAAHH!" All three of them yelled as they were all washed up in the turbulence.

* * *

Meanwhile, off in a hot spring about several miles from the waterfall where Team Skye was exploring, a Torkoal was standing and keeping watch over the hot spring.

"Now, Teddiursa!" he chastised at a Teddiursa in the spring, "I'll be grateful if you didn't roughhouse with Mankey today. The Hot Spring is meant to be a safe place for everyone too relax. And, er, I'd also like it if you did your... business elsewhere, for everybody's sake."

"Aw... all right." Teddiursa replied. Smiling, the Torkoal looked off in the distance, when he suddenly saw a mountain several miles away erupt. But instead of rocks and magma, an enormous spout of water emerged from the top.

"Oh my, that's quite the strange eruption..." Torkoal commented to himself. Soon, the other Pokémon in the springs noticed the eruption, and gathered to watch.

"Look, there are Pokémon on the top of that water spout!" someone yelled. Soon, everyone noticed the Pokémon on the water spout.

"There are three of them!" someone said.

"I see a Wooper!" someone shouted, noticing a Wooper wearing a bright red scarf.

"There's a Chikorita there too!" another pointed out.

"And... a Charmander! I feel bad for the fire-type..." another said.

The water spout suddenly shot upwards, shooting the three Pokémon off too. They began to fly towards the Hot Spring.

"They're heading this way!"

"Get out of the way!"

_SPLASH!_

A wave emerged from the center of the Spring, and three Pokémon lay in the center: a Wooper, a Chikorita, and a Charmander.

Suddenly, the Wooper stood up. "That was awesome! Let's do that again!" He then noticed all the other Pokémon in the spring staring at him. "Hi, I'm Wooper of Team Skye!" Wooper said happily.

"Ugh... where are we...?" Rita mumbled, standing up.

"You're in the Hot Spring!" Teddiursa suddenly spoke up.

"Hot Spring...?" Rita asked.

"Indeed!" Torkoal said, walking up to them. "I manage these parts to make sure that Pokémon of all kinds can come and relax peacefully." Torkoal glanced at the Charmander. "Now who's this?"

"Oh, that's... oh gosh, Charmander!" Rita rushed up to him. He had passed out and was now laying face up in the water. Rita glanced at her tail. "His tail! It's almost out! Oh, please no, please..." Rita picked him up and hugged him protectively.

"Now now, youngster, don't fret. I have a Reviver Seed that I can use.

"Really? Thank you!" Rita said with immense gratitude.

Torkoal walked up to Charmander and fed him a Reviver Seed. The flame on Charmander's tail instantly burned bright again.

"W-what...? Where am I..." Charmander said as he slowly opened his eyes. He noticed how he was in Rita's arms. "Rita...?"

"You're okay!" Rita exclaimed, squeezing the air out of Charmander.

"Rita and Charmander, sittin' in a-" Wooper began to sing.

"Now, don't be rude, young'un." Torkoal interrupted. Luckily for Wooper, neither Rita nor Charmander heard him.

"Oof, Rita... I'll faint a second time if you... hug me any tighter." Charmander wheezed.

"But I'll drop you into the water." Rita pointed out.

"I'll live." Reluctantly, Rita gently put Charmander down. Charmander shivered a bit from wading in the water. At least the water was hot, but it was still water, and water was bad no matter what the temperature. But Charmander could manage for now.

"Now, as I was saying," Torkoal continued as the Charmander, Rita, and Wooper gathered in the center of the Hot Spring while the rest of the Pokémon continued on with their business in the spring, deciding that the three weren't all too special after all. "You three are in the Hot Spring. Do any of you youngsters have a map?"

Charmander got out their Wonder Map and opened it up on the surface of the water. It wasn't called a Wonder Map for nothing – it was practically indestructible to the elements.

"You are here." Torkoal said, motioning to an area a little southwest of the waterfall cave the three of them had explored.

"Oh gosh!" Rita exclaimed. "Did we really travel _that_ far?"

"Well, it was quite the spectacle watching the three of you launch this way!" Torkoal mused as Charmander folded up the map. "Tell me, where do y'all live?"

"Wigglytuff Guild, near Treasure Town." Rita answered.

"I don't live anywhere!" Wooper said. "So I'm just following the two of them for now."

"Well, that's quite a ways from here!" Torkoal exclaimed. "You three might want to get back as soon as possible. You can rest up here and ease your sore muscles for a few minutes if you want, but the day's getting old, and you might not be able to return before it gets dark!"

"Okay, I think we'll stay here for a bit then, and then go. Thank you!" Rita said.

* * *

"Hiya, Charmander!"

Charmander was sitting by the side of the Hot Spring, out of the water. He felt a bit left out, but after what had happened, he didn't want to touch water for a while. Rita was sitting and talking in the Spring with another Pokémon, mainly about their team and how they just started as apprentices at Wigglytuff's guild.

As he sat, Wooper came up to him, still being his happy self.

"Hey," Charmander replied as Wooper came up to him. "So, how do you like it being in Team Skye so far?"

"It's great!" Wooper said. "Even after one day, I feel like we've been on the adventure of a lifetime!"

Charmander smiled. It was nice to hear that their first recruit was having a good time.

"Buuut..." Wooper started.

"Huh? 'But' what?" Charmander asked.

"You're oblivious!" Wooper suddenly exclaimed.

"W-what? Oblivious to what?" Charmander was thoroughly confused now.

"Isn't it obvious?" Wooper asked. "Oblivious to her!"  
No response. Charmander was still confused.

"What am I oblivious to with Rita? We're close friends, and I know a lot about her. Her dreams, her ambitions..."

Wooper just smiled. "Wow, you really are clueless! Oh well, you'll realize soon, and I'll help you too, but it'll be nice if you found out on your own!"

"Um... okay." Charmander simply replied. He was still wondering what Wooper meant about being oblivious to Rita. Charmander had an idea about what Wooper may have meant. Could it be that Rita... no, that couldn't be true...

… Right?

"Hey, I think we should head back now!" Rita called to the two of them, climbing out of the spring and shaking herself off (much to Charmander's dismay at getting wet again).

"Alright, let's go back!" Charmander said as the three of them started their several mile trek back to the guild.

* * *

**Yeah, so Wooper's introduction is a bit sudden, and it may seem a bit rushed, kinda like those people who go up to other people and say "Hey! We just met, but let's be best friends!". But Wooper really _is_ that kind of Pokémon, which is why he's always so hyperactive and enthusiastic all the time. Anyways, as Wooper said, it should be obvious why he called Charmander "Oblivious", and yes, Charmander's finally starting to realize a bit about Rita's feelings for him instead being clueless and naïve!**

**On a separate note, I made it up to chapter 16 of the game (I know, I still haven't finished the game, don't kill me), and my God, was I thrown for a loop! By far one of the best plots I've seen in quite a while! On the downside though, it completely messed up some of the ideas I had for the story. Now I have to think of a way for Charmander to remember his name again, and being the idiot I am, I used my real name for the main character. So that means y'all get to see what my real name is once I find a way for Charmander to remember his name! Privacy has just been thrown into the trash! Wonderful... just wonderful...**

**Of course, as usual, reviews and criticism are very much appreciated. For this chapter, I'd like to know if the quality of the chapter held up with its drastic length. Keep in mind, my later chapters (hopefully) won't be as long. I usually like to keep chapters relatively short and sweet, but this one just went over the bar. Anyways, thank you for reading!**


	6. Wasted Efforts

**Wow, two and a half week hiatus... I've failed you all...**

**Er, anyways, this chapter's a bit short, but this is the first of two chapters I'm posting today to make up for it, 'cause I can already tell all of you are seething with anger at my long absence. So without further ado, enjoy these two chapters!**

**Disclaimer: … But not until I do my good ol' disclaimer first. Even though none of you read this anyways. Let me get this over with – I don't own Pokémon, and am not affiliated with Nintendo in any way, shape, or form. This is a fan-made work (obviously. It's on a site called FANfiction, for crying out loud!) Now that _that's_ out of the way, now you can enjoy these two chapters!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Wasted Efforts**

"Whoa... Is that really true? Is Charmander really a human?"

"Yep! Although, he doesn't remember much. Not even his name."

"Can't wait 'till I find out my name too... Being called 'Charmander' is starting to make me feel less and less human..."

On the way back to the guild, Charmander and Rita decided to tell Wooper about Charmander's past – or, well, his lack of one. The three of them could see Wigglytuff's guild in the distance not too far off. Just a few more minutes and they would make it back.

"Being a Pokemon's not all bad!" Rita said, trying to cheer Charmander up.

"Says the Pokémon who's never been human before..." Charmander simply said.

"Do you even remember anything about being human?" Rita asked.

Charmander tried to think of anything that a human had that was better than a Charmander. There were fingers, but Charmander had claws that suited just as well. Humans were bipedal, but so was Charmander. Bigger brain? No, Charmander was sure that even though he was a Pokémon, he still had the mindset of a human. Clothing? Nuh-uh, considering Charmander was part reptilian.

"Well, not much," Charmander said truthfully. "But-"

"See! Maybe being a Pokémon's better after all!" Rita said happily.

Charmander rolled his eyes, but let Rita bask in her temporary glory.

"We're here!" Wooper announced after a few more minutes of silent walking.

They were now standing at the foot of the cliff where Wigglytuff's guild stood at the top. To the west was Treasure Town, and a little south of them a Spinda, Wynaut, and Wobbuffet was still at work at whatever they were working on. It seemed to be some kind of underground pub they were building.

"Hey, Wooper," Charmander said, realizing something. "Where are you going to go for the night? I don't think the guild will let you stay, since you're not an official member of the guild, just a recruit."

"Huh. I don't know..." Wooper contemplated.

"Did someone say they needed a place to rest?" Suddenly the Spinda went up to the three of them. "Well, if you'll all be happy to oblige, we'll happily allow this Wooper to rest at the Juice Bar we're building!"

"Huh, what? Juice Bar?" Rita asked.

"Yes! My name is Spinda, and those two are my cohorts Wynaut and Wobbuffet." Spinda gestured towards the Wynaut and Wobbuffet behind them, who were installing a sign in front of a set of stairs leading downwards. "We're building a Juice Bar for many exploration teams to relax and enjoy before going out on your explorations!" Spinda explained. "We also provide rooming for non-official team members, such as this Wooper right here! We won't be opening until tomorrow, but I'm sure we could make an exception."

A part of Charmander told him not to trust this Spinda. The Spinda briefly reminded Charmander of sneaky businessmen always trying to make a deal. _Dammit, this isn't a businessman, he's a Pokémon for Arceus' sake! Besides, he does seem sincere._ "Alright then, Wooper." Charmander said, "Do you want to stay here for the night?"

"Sure!" Wooper replied.

"Thank you for the offer, Spinda." Rita said, nodding her head towards Spinda. "What's the price for staying? I think we should afford-"

"Oh, no no! No fee! All of our services here are free, so rest assured, don't hassle yourselves trying to repay us!" the Spinda said. Rita opened her mouth to try and protest, but she closed it realizing that the Spinda was sincere. She thanked the Spinda, and she and Charmander said bye to Wooper.

"Bye, Rita! Bye oblivious Charmander!" Wooper yelled to them, following Spinda, Wynaut, and Wobbuffet down the set of stairs leading to Spinda's Juice Bar.

"Oblivious Charmander?" Rita asked, tilting her head at Charmander. "Is he talking about how you can't remember anything?"

"Not exactly." Charmander flatly replied. He scratched the back of his head, briefly remembering what Wooper had been telling him earlier. "I'll tell you about it later, but let's just report our findings to Chatot for now." Rita nodded her head in agreement, and they both made their way up to Wigglytuff's guild.

They climbed inside and headed all the way down to the second underground floor of the guild. Chatot was standing in his usual spot outside the Guildmaster's room.

"Ah! You've returned. So how goes the exploration?" Chatot immediately asked upon seeing the team.

"Well-" Charmander, being _such_ an optimistic Pokémon, almost went ahead and gave the bad news first, but Rita quickly interrupted him.

"It was great! There was a secret cave behind the waterfall!" she exclaimed.

"Really?" Chatot asked with interest. He then noticed the uneasy look Charmander had. "Charmander? What's wrong, is there something else about this cave?"

"Um, as I was _going_ to say," Rita gave a sheepish smile. "The bottom of the cave had a room filled with gems, and there was this really big, magenta-colored one."

"Well where is it? I'd like to see this treasure you seem to have discovered!" Chatot exclaimed. He looked quizzically at Charmander and Rita, and frowned at not seeing this so called "big magenta-colored gem" on them.

"That's the problem. You see..." Charmander shuddered, remembering the large wave of water that had nearly taken his life.

"It was a trap." Rita finished. "A large wave of water washed us out of the room when we tried to take the gem, and we were washed away to the Hot Springs. A kind, old Torkoal was able to help us though."

"A Torkoal? You mean the town elder?" Rita inquired.

"He's the town elder?" Now it was Rita who was confused.

"Well, I would assume the Torkoal you met is the same Torkoal, our town elder. The old coot's running out of days, so now he spends most of the time relaxing and sometimes managing the Hot Springs." Chatot explained. "But let's get back on topic. Are you saying you weren't able to acquire the aforementioned treasure?"

Both Charmander and Rita gulped. "No." they said in unison.

Chatot just put on a cheery attitude. "That's quite alright! Either way, a discovery was made! I'll be sure to inform the Guildmaster right away!" Charmander and Rita sighed, relieved that everything was okay after all. But there was something tugging at Charmander's mind.

_The Guildmaster. Now that I think about it..._ Charmander remembered what he saw in those visions he had back at the hidden waterfall cave. That lone figure he kept seeing, with long, pointy ears and an oval-shaped body.

"Chatot?" Charmander asked. "There's something I want to say about the Guildmaster."

"Hm? What is it?" Chatot inquired. Rita was looking at Charmander with interest too, and a little confusion.

"I think... he may have been to this cave before." Charmander suggested.

"What?" Chatot rhetorically exclaimed. "That's preposterous! Inconceivable! After all, why would he make you explore something that's already been discovered?" Chatot narrowed his eyes. "In fact, why would you make such a claim?"

"Nothing!" Charmander said, panicking a little. He really didn't want to explain about his peculiar ability to foresee visions. That info was strictly kept between Rita and himself. And maybe Wooper, once they got to know him a little better.

"It's just that I've had a... hunch, per se." Charmander didn't know what else to describe it other than a hunch. "Can you just ask the Guildmaster. Please?"

Chatot just stared and blinked a few times. "Well, I'm not entirely sure why you would make a request... but if you insist, I will speak to the Guildmaster about this. Stay here, please."

Chatot turned and entered the Guildmaster's room, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Rita asked as they stood outside.

"It was those visions I had back at the Waterfall Cave. That Pokémon I saw, I think it was Wigglytuff." Charmander explained.

"Visions? You had more than one?"

"I did. There was that one after you shoved me into the Waterfall." Rita giggled a little when Charmander mentioned that. He ignored it for now.

"And then I had another vision while we were trying to get that big gem. That vision had Wigglytuff falling into that giant wave trap. I tried to warn you, but you had already pushed it by then."

"Oh." Rita said, a little guilty at being so hasty from before.

A little bored, Charmander walked up to the door to the Guildmaster's room and pressed the side of his head against the door.

"What're you doing?" Rita asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Eavesdropping. What else does it look like?" Charmander deadpanned.

"I don't think you should be doing that."

"Nobody's going to know. Except maybe Croagunk," Charmander glanced at the creepy Pokémon running his little stand in the corner of the room. "But he usually keeps to himself."

Curiosity eventually getting the better of her, Rita joined Charmander and listened to the conversation going on inside the Guildmaster's room.

"... memories! Oh, sweet memories!" a voice sang from the inside.

"Yep. That's Chatot alright." Charmander said. "Who knew he had such a lovely voice?"

Rita laughed a little, which made Charmander's chest swell a bit. They continued to listen on the conversation.

"Yes, yes!" the singing voice continued. "If I think _really_ hard, I think I may have gone to the cave once or twice!"

"B-But Guildmaster," That was Chatot for real this time. "why did you make them explore the cave when it had already been discovered?"

"Hmm... maybe because it would be fun!"

"Maybe? But what do you mean-"

"Oh, look at the time! It's dinner, and I can't keep my lovely Perfect Apples waiting! Goodbye Chatot!"

"Er, uh..." Chatot seemed to be stammering. "A-All right then, I'll take my leave."

"Oh!" Wigglytuff spoke up. "And you don't have to tell Charmander and Rita about this conversation. After all, they're eavesdropping on us through the door!"

"Gah!" Charmander jumped back and stood a few feet from the door, as if the door had suddenly became a dangerous predator. "How did he know?"

"I told you it would be a bad idea." Rita said, smirking a bit.

"You were listening too!"

"But only because you were!"

"If you two don't mind," Chatot interrupted. He was standing outside the door, a huffed expression on his face. "Are you two finished bickering like an old married couple?"

Charmander simply nodded his head. Rita was blushing from Chatot's choice of words, which Charmander took notice of.

"Anyways, you two heard the conversation. It turns out the Guildmaster's been there after all."

"Oh... that's disappointing..." Rita said, her head dropping.

"But you two still made a valiant effort, and I expect to see the same determination throughout your time here at the guild!" Chatot said, trying to brighten the mood. "Now, off to dinner you two, and get to bed early!" As Charmander and Rita walked to the mess hall, Chatot shook his head slightly. "That Team Skye sure is an interesting one..."

* * *

"You didn't have to overreact so much after Bidoof spilled his glass of water on you."

"You try saying that if you were a fire-type! That stuff almost hit my tail."

"It's just water."

"Water means death."

They both stared at each other with their eyes narrowed, but it was impossible for Charmander to stay serious for long, and he let out a laugh. Rita followed suit soon after, and they made it back to their room smiling.

"Damn, I'm exhuasted." Charmander said, flopping onto the bed and putting his claws behind his head. "It was such a _long_ day. And water. Too much water."

"Yeah, but it was all still fun! We got to go on our own adventure, even if the place was already discovered, and we even got a new recruit to the team! So... thanks for that, and sticking with me through it all." Rita said, walking up to Charmander.

"Thanks?" Charmander sat up. "It's not like I was going to abandon ship or anything."

"Yeah, but you could have when you first met me."

"...?"

"Well, when you first met me, you lost your memories, you were lost, and you didn't even know what or where you were."

"You're making it sound like I was helpless." Charmander said defiantly.

"What I'm trying to say is, you could've just left me to my own devices after my relic fragment was stolen, but instead you decided to help a stranger you only met for a few minutes."

_Honestly, it was just the spur of the moment that made my numb mind say "Okay." _Charmander thought. He didn't dare say it out loud though.

Rita continued to speak, "So what I'm trying to say is," Charmander gave a sharp intake of breath. Rita was hugging him. And it didn't feel awkward. It actually felt kinda... nice. "Thank you." Rita finally managed to say. Charmander relaxed into Rita's grip. _She smells nice. Kind of like freshly mown grass..._ Charmander thought disjointedly, not exactly thinking straight.

"I thought you already said thank you before." Charmander said, but still returning the hug.

"I just wanted to say it again. I really mean what I said. Thanks, for everything. You're the only reason I was able to get this far." Rita released herself from the hug, leaving both of them strangely hollow. "And maybe, one day, we might be able to find out the secret of my Relic Fragment." Rita said, taking out her relic fragment. "I'd be so happy if we found it's secret. It's one of the main reasons that I wanted to form an exploration team."

_I'll have to ask her where she found that Relic Fragment sometime later. And maybe some of her other reason for wanting to form an exploration team._ Charmander noted.

"That reminds me..." Rita said. "That power of yours has also been really helpful. Thought it's kinda strange, only happening now and then.

"Kinda? Sounds like you've seen this sort of thing every day." Charmander said sarcastically. "But you're right. I keep having them at random times. After I helped Azurill, after we met Drowzee, after we saw the waterfall, and then after we tried to get that gem out." Charmander glanced at Rita. Even looking from behind, he could see the gears working in her head, trying to come up with a solution.

And a solution came. "I got it!" Rita said excitedly, turning to Charmander. "You have those visions every time you touch something!"

"I don't..." Charmander thought for a moment, and he widened his eyes when he realized that Rita was right. After he picked up Azurill, after he bumped into Drowzee, after he was shoved into the waterfall, and after he tried lifting the gem. "Wow, you might be right." Charmander affirmed, "but I'm still not sure why it's at those moments when I get the visions. Not only that, but the visions seem to be spasmodic. Sometimes the visions are of the future, sometimes in the past."

Rita frowned. "Well maybe you're power is supposed to help you whenever you're stuck at something."

"I wasn't stuck with anything with Azurill though. I could've very well just left Azurill to his own demise, but my visions thought otherwise."

Rita didn't have a response to this.

"Oh well, I guess we might never know." Charmander said, laying back down on his bed and curling up. "I'm tired. It was such a long day, and there was so much water..." Charmander shivered and closed his eyes.

Rita watched him for a awhile thinking he was asleep, until Charmander opened one eye. "Um, that's kinda creepy. Do you always watch me like that?"

"Oh! N-Nothing. I just wanted to know about that 'Oblivious Charmander' thing that Wooper called you." Rita said.

"I dunno. He said that I was, uh, oblivious to you." Charmander looked at her, as if expecting an answer. "Are you _sure_ there isn't something you're not telling me? You've been acting kinda strange near me lately."

"S-Strange? I... I'm fine."

_There it is again,_ Charmander thought, sitting up and frowning at her. "You're doing it again."

"D-Doing what?"

"Lying." Rita gave an incredulous look at Charmander. "It's the way you keep stuttering." Charmander smirked. "That, and your face is as red as a Cheri berry."

"Well, I, it's just that you-" Rita started.

"I'm?"

"No! Not you,"

"So, not me?"

"A-Actually, yes you-"

"Huh?" Charmander was now thoroughly confused. He was holding back the urge to just yell at Rita to say what was on her mind already. He was being torn apart with Rita's recent behavior, Wooper calling Charmander "Oblivious", and now Charmander thought that he was finally putting the pieces together. He just needed Rita to confirm his beliefs.

"You two!" Chatot called as if from nowhere. He was standing at the entrance to their room. "The Guildmaster would like to talk to you two."

Rita recovered from the shock of the interruption first. "Oh! Yes, of course." Rita rushed out of the room, straight past Chatot.

"Is something wrong with her?" Chatot asked Charmander.

"Oh, uh, nothing is wrong. Nothing." Charmander mumbled. _Arceus dammit, not again!_ Charmander was thinking furiously in his head. _First the loudmouth, now the featherbrain interrupted. _In all honestly, Charmander didn't really think that about Loudred or Chatot. He was just angry and a little peeved at being interrupted again from getting the answer he's been waiting for from Rita. _When am I finally going to solve this puzzle?_

"If it's nothing, then come along now!" Chatot said.

By the time Chatot and Charmadner made it in front of the Guildmaster's room, Rita was already waiting for them.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Charmander asked.

"Just excited, that's all." Rita replied.

_She is probably excited at this unexpected request from the Guildmaster, but I doubt that's the _only_ reason she got here so fast._ Charmander decided not to push it further with Chatot asking though.

They stepped inside, where Wigglytuff had his back facing the three of them.

"Guildmaster, I brought Team Skye, as you requested." Chatot said. "... Er, sir?"

"Hiya!" Wigglytuff cried out, turning around with his hands flailed in the air.

_Still the same, strange Wigglytuff..._

"So, I heard that you two have been working hard lately!" Wigglytuff started. "And I wanted to tell you two a little something because of that."

"Really? What's that?" Rita asked.

"Well, tomorrow we'll be announcing an official Guild expedition. Now, normally we wouldn't consider rookies, but because your team has been working so hard, we're considering you as candidates for the exploration!"

"R-Really?!"

"Now now, don't get too excited." Chatot spoke up. "You're only being considered as candidates, so there are no guarantees!"

"That's right!" Wigglytuff said. "So be sure to keep working hard, and you'll be sure to get chosen for the expedition! On that note, we're also promoting you to silver rank for the increased effort your team has been putting in."

"All right!" Charmander and Rita did a high-five right there and then.

"Now that that's settled." Chatot said. "Off to bed!"


	7. The Rivalry of Skye and Skull

**Disclaimer: No author's note this chapter. But I still need this stupid disclaimer... I don't own Pokémon, and am not affiliated with Nintendo in any way, shape, or form. This is a fan project created purely for recreational purposes (and also because I've got nothing better to do).**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Rivalry of Skye and Skull**

"Attention! Quiet down, I have an announcement to make!" Chatot called the morning after Charmander and Rita explored the Waterfall Cave.

"An announcement? Well, get ON with it already!" Loudred complained.

"Hush! I clearly said to be quiet, did I not?" Chatot said, narrowing his eyes. That quickly shut up Loudred and all other who were still speaking.

"Now, the Guildmaster here is planning an official guild expedition. All of you are being considered as candidates for the expedition, so..."

Charmander tuned out most of what Chatot was saying. He had already told both him and Rita most of what he was announcing to the rest of the apprentices last night, so Charmander didn't really didn't want to listen again. Naturally, his mind began to wander to other thoughts.

Specifically last night, and Rita's strange behavior. He was starting to get frustrated at finding the answer as to why she was acting so strange whenever she was near him. Charmander had the nagging feeling that she had some sort of feelings for him, but he was too afraid to ask her specifically. If it turned out that she _didn't_ have feelings for him, and Charmander asked anyways... well, he could just imagine how awkward that situation would be.

_If she did have feelings for me, would I return them?_ Charmander thought to himself. _Let me see... she's nice, sincere, and... kinda cute._ Charmander felt a little weird thinking her as a little cute. But he couldn't help but find it a little true. _She's definitely timid, but she has courage in their somewhere. She just needs something to bring out that courage, let her express herself. And that something – er, some_one_ just so happens to be... me._

Charmander sighed at the realization. _Now that I think about it more, she probably does have feelings for me. I just wonder how Wooper noticed it first... Oh well, it's nice that he's trying to help me with it all, even though calling me "Oblivious" doesn't really help all that much. Maybe I should-_

"Charmander!"

"Wha- huh!?"

"What happened to you? You just zoned out." Rita asked.

Charmander looked around. Everybody had already been dismissed and were going about their business. Croagunk was setting up his shop in the corner of the room, Diglett and Loudred were getting ready to do sentry duty.

"Did we already do our morning cheers?" Charmander asked.

"Yeah, a while ago. Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Rita asked, looking straight into Charmander's eyes.

Charmander looked back into Rita's eyes. He hadn't noticed before, but her large, red, almost magenta tinted eyes looked beautiful. And Charmander felt strangely... happy seeing those eyes look back into his with both warmth and genuine concern. It was the sort of happy feeling you get in your chest when laughing freely.

"I'm fine. Really." Charmander said, smiling to show that he was okay.

Rita could still see that Charmander had something else on his mind, but she decided not to push him further. "Okay. Well, let's go see what jobs we can do so we can look good and get picked for that expedition coming up!" she said, heading for the ladder to the upper floor.

Charmander followed, and sighed inwardly. _We've only known each other for a week. I'll forget about this right now, 'cause now we've got something more important to do, and that's to get picked for this upcoming expedition! Now, what jobs are available-_

"Oh my gosh." Charmander said, stopping short.

"What?" Rita asked, looking behind her. Charmander simply pointed to two Pokémon standing in front of the Job bulletin board. A Koffing and a Zubat.

Rita gasped sharply, stepping backwards and bumping into Charmander.

Koffing and Zubat turned around. "Well well! If it isn't the chicken and her pet bodyguard."

_Pet!?_ Charmander thought furiously.

"H-How...?" Rita was trembling against Charmander.

"We could ask you the same thing." Koffing said.

"Surprised, huh?" Zubat added. "We're an exploration team here too, heh heh."

"But our methods aren't... by the book, so to speak." Koffing said. "But enough about us. What are _you_ wimps doing here?"

"We're here because we wanted to become an exploration team too, so we became apprentices at the guild." Rita said, managing to gain her composure. Charmander continued to stare at them with hate.

"What?" Zubat asked scornfully. He and Koffing glanced at each other for a moment, before turning back to Rita. "C'mere, you." They suddenly grabbed Rita and tried to pull her into a corner, much to her dismay.

"Hey! Let go of her!" Charmander demanded, attempting to pry the two cronies off of Rita.

"Excuse me! You four, please stop at ONCE!" The four of them turned to see a very annoyed Chatot looking at them. "I thought I heard something, but a fight in the guild? It's not unheard of, but I am disappointed nonetheless. Team Skye, I expect better than this." Rita felt her heart dropped. Charmander felt guilty too, but his rage towards Koffing and Zubat were still overpowering.

"And Team Skull, behave yourselves." Chatot said, turning to Koffing and Zubat.

_Team Skull? That's their team name? It's kind of morbid..._ Charmander thought.

When Chatot was finished, he turned and went back to the ladder leading back downstairs. Once he was out of sight, Koffing and Zubat turned back to Rita. "Alright, listen." Koffing said in a quiet tone. "You two think you're _actually_ going to become a fully-fledged exploration team? You couldn't graduate even if you tried!"

"Stop. Threatening. Her." Charmander said dangerously.

"And you." Zubat said, turning to Charmander. "What do you think you're doing with a coward like her?"

"She is not a coward. She's just timid, and I want to be able to protect her from crooks like _you_," Charmander jabbed a claw at Zubat, "from taking advantage of that."

"Yeah." Rita spoke up. "Like Charmander said, I _am _timid, but that's why I wanted to form an exploration team. So I can become stronger and have more courage over my timidness. And that's also why we're going to try our hardest to get picked the upcoming guild expedition, so we can become stronger through our adventures."

Zubat and Koffing seemed genuinely surprised. "Expedition, you say? A full guild expedition could get our team..." Koffing shook his head. "Never mind. The point is, you two couldn't ever get stronger if you tried. Heck, you two couldn't beat our team if you tried, whoa-ho-ho!"

"What are you talking about?" Charmander said in an annoyed tone. "We've defeated you once already, and I would _kill_ both of you right now if we weren't in the guild."

"The only reason you two happened to luckily win that time was because our team leader wasn't with us." Zubat explained smugly.

"Your team... leader?" Rita and Charmander asked at the same time.

"That's right. There are three of us in our group. Me, Zubat, and- oh! I think I can smell our leader coming now!"

_Smell?_

Charmander and Rita turned, and saw a large, skunk-like Pokémon making its way down the ladder from the ground floor. It was a Skuntank.

The Skuntank gradually approached the four of them, and stopped upon seeing Charmander and Rita blocking his way. "Out of my way." the Skuntank said gruffly.

Rita moved to the side without hesitation. Charmander, however, stayed rooted to the spot, glaring at the Skuntank. "I said out of my _way_, squirt." the Skuntank repeated.

"What? Too lazy to walk around?" Charmander retorted. It was a weak retort, but it did the trick; Skuntank was pissed.

"You insolent little-!" Before Charmander knew it, he was hurled five feet across the room, along with a terrible scent lingering in his nose.

"Charmander!" Rita called, running up to him before immediately stepping back. "W-What's that horrible smell?" Bracing herself, Rita held her breath and walked over to Charmander. "Are you... okay?"

"I... I think I need a shower... What did that damn Skuntank even do to me?" Charmander asked woozily, standing up.

"He attacked with some kind of horrible-smelling gas attack." Rita explained. She looked around the room, and the rest of the guild members seemed to be revolted by the sudden smell attacking the room.

"So, you two." Skuntank said to Koffing and Zubat, within hearing range of Team Skye. "Have you found any jobs that'll rake us the big cash?"

"No, but there _is_ something else." Koffing said. "An expedition, and..."

"Let's get out of here." Charmander said. Rita hastily agreed, and they made their way out of the guild.

Wooper was waiting for them outside. "Hiya Rita, Hiya Char- OH ARCEUS, YOU SMELL LIKE DEATH!" Wooper ran back a couple of steps to get as much distance as he could between himself and the atrocious stench coming off of Charmander.

"Thanks. That makes me feel a _lot_ better, Wooper." Charmander said, rolling his eyes. "Where's the nearest pond from here?"

"There are washing springs outside of Treasure Town, Charmander. You can take your well-needed bath there." Rita said.

"Well, I'll just stay at Spinda's place for a little bit and wait for you two." Wooper said. "See ya later!"

* * *

"Get in, Charmander."

"On second thought-"

"You _need_ a bath."

"But... water..."

_SPLASH!_

"ACK! S-So c-c-cold!" Charmander exclaimed upon being forcefully pushed into the pond. He tried frantically to get out, but Rita had him held down with her vines. "L-Let go of m-me!"

"Charmander, please. You need the shower. If worse comes to worse I'll save you, but _please_ wash up." Rita asked, a hint of empathy in her voice. This annoyed Charmander a bit, considering he always tried to stay strong and act as that sort of role model for her. Kind of hard to do that when Charmander's worst enemy was Rita's best friend: water.

"F-F-Fine." Charmander stuttered. Rita let go of him, and Charmander proceeded to quickly rinse the stench off his body. When he was finished, he hastily leaped out of the pond and let his internal heat dry himself off.

"Stupid Team Skull... why do they have to be antagonistic?" Charmander muttered.

"Let's just try and ignore them for now. Hopefully they won't bother us if we don't bother them." Rita said.

"I doubt that. They still wanted to make fun of you even after we kicked their sorry butts almost a week ago." Charmander said. "But if you insist, I'll try not to let it all out on them... yet."

They made it back to Treasure Town, and decided to go to Spinda's Juice Bar to pick up Wooper.

The bar happened to be an underground pub. On the left side of the room was the juice bar, and the right side seemed to have another kind of shop. It seemed like a nice place, and numerous Pokémon were around and socializing, taking a swig at the juice bar, or making exchanges at the shop at the right side of the room. Charmander spotted Wooper at a nearby table. "Hey!" Charmander called to him.

"There you two are!" Wooper said, bouncing over to Charmander and Rita. He seemed to have forgotten about Charmander and his earlier stench.

"Hey Wooper." Charmander said. "I'm going to tell him about the expedition, okay Rita?"

Rita's face suddenly dropped. "But Wooper won't be able to come either way."

"What? Why?"

"Didn't you hear what Chatot was saying this morning? Only official guild members can go. Wooper's technically a recruit, so..."

"But..." An idea suddenly came to Charmander. "Maybe we can make him an official member of our team!"

"Um, what are you two talking about?" Wooper asked, slightly confused. Charmander told Wooper everything about the upcoming expedition, and Rita added in the parts from what Chatot said this morning, about how recruits couldn't go.

"But that's not fair!" Wooper complained. "I want to go too!"  
"And that's why we're going back to the guild right now and asking Chatot to make you an official member of our team!" Charmander concluded, satisfied.

The three of them headed back to the guild, and made their way to the second underground floor, where Chatot was still standing outside of the Guildmaster's room. Charmander wondered what Chatot did just standing there all day.

"Chatot!" Rita called out.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Do you think we could add another member to our team as an apprentice?" Charmander asked, gesturing towards Wooper.

Chatot looked a bit disrupted. "You want to add another official member to your team? I'm afraid-"

"Well why not?" Charmander interrupted.

"Hush, and let me finish." Chatot said. "Under normal circumstances, I'd be fine if you added another member. But with the upcoming expedition..."

"Oh come on! Wooper would make a great addition to the guild!" Charmander argued.

"Yes, I'm sure he would, but it's still protocol..." Chatot glanced at the looked at the three of them for a moment before speaking again. "Although, I can see that you three are serious about adding another member. So how about this: if you, Charmander, and Rita get chosen for the upcoming expedition, I'll let you bring along Wooper here, as an official guild member." Wooper beamed at the thought of being able to become an official member with Charmander and Rita. "And if you two don't get picked for the expedition, you may still add Wooper to your team, but only right after everyone else returns from the expedition. Understood?"

"Yes!" the three of them responded.

"Good! Now go to work, the day's nearly halfway done!"

* * *

The day ended with three jobs completed, nothing else that special. Spoink somehow lost his pearl again, a Caterpie had the grand idea of walking deep into a mystery dungeon, and needed to be saved, and an outlaw needed to be apprehended at Mt. Bristle.

Once they got back to Treasure Town, stored all of their excess money in Duskull Bank, and stored all excess items in Kangaskhan Storage, they returned back to the front of the guild.

"Well, that was a good day." Charmander said, yawning. "Hopefully this increases our chances of getting picked."

"We'll just have to keep working hard." Rita said.

Wooper yawned right after Charmander. "I'm tired you two. I'm going back to Spinda's. Bye Rita! And Charmander, hope you're still not oblivious!"

After Wooper hopped back towards Spinda's and he was out of sight, Charmander turned to Rita. "You still haven't told me about last night."

Rita felt her heart drop a bit. "Oh! W-Well, about that night..."

Charmander noticed her stuttering, and laughed. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me, at least not now."

Rita felt slightly relieved. "Oh, okay."

"Besides, we should focus on that upcoming expedition and-"

_Grroowwl..._

"Um, what was that?" Rita asked.

Charmander blushed. "Eh heh... that was my stomach..."

Rita burst out laughing. "Wow, you must be famished to have made your stomach growl that loudly-"

_Grroowwl..._

Charmander looked at Rita, his mouth agape, before bursting out laughing along with Rita. "Now who's talking?"

"I guess we're both hungry from working so hard for that expedition." Rita said after calming down a little. "C'mon, let's have some dinner."

Dinner sped by, and before they knew it, they were in their room, sleeping the night away.

* * *

"What a light snack. They'll starve us if they keep feeding us these puny amounts." Skuntank muttered in the middle of the night.

"Hey, I heard they're keeping a stash of Perfect Apples in this guild, right in the kitchen!" Koffing said.

"Perfect Apples, you say?" Skuntank said. "Well, we'll be having a feast tonight then! Chaw-haw-haw!"

* * *

"UP AND AT-"

"Boo!"

"GAAAAAHH!" Loudred stumbled backwards, letting out an ear-piercing yell.

Charmander was stunned. "Jeez, did I scare you _that_ badly that you had to kill our eardrums?"

"No, you... you just came out of NOWHERE! And you usually don't wake up so early..."

Charmander chuckled. "Well, I thought I could get you back for this past week."

"For what?"

"What do you think, LOUDred?" Charmander asked rhetorically. Loudred got the message.

"Well, if you're going to stay with us as apprentices, get used to my LOUD voice!" Loudred exclaimed. He glanced around the room. "Where's Rita?"

"I'm not sure. She'll probably be back soon."

"Alright, but be sure you're not LATE to the morning briefing!" Loudred said before leaving the room.

What Charmander told Loudred wasn't exactly true. When Charmander woke up this morning, Rita was gone, and there was a note next to his bed.

_ Charmander,_

_ I'm going to be gone for a little bit this morning. Don't worry, I'll be back for the morning briefing. If you happen to wake up early, please stay in our room and wait for me to return. I want to give you something. From, Rita._

Charmander was confused, but he did as the note asked. In that time, he plotted to scare Loudred because he happened to have woken up early, and now that he was finished scaring the wits out of Loudred, he was now just lying in his bed waiting for Rita.

It didn't take too long either. Rita returned, looking satisfied but also slightly nervous.

"Good morning." she simply said.

"Morning yourself." Charmander replied, standing up and stretching. "Where've you been?"

Rita beamed. "Just a little present."

Charmander perked at the word "present". Rita rummaged around in her Treasure Bag, and took out a heart-shaped object, handing it to Charmander.

"What is...?" Charmander asked.

"We've been a team for a week now, and I've always had this laying around. I think it's called a Fiery Heart, and I heard it's a great gift for Charmanders, so..."

"Thank you..." Charmander simply said, admiring the stone. The Fiery Heart was shaped like it's name – a heart. The stone itself was flat, but it was also very smooth, almost like polished granite. It also reflected certain hues of red off of its surface, making different shades of red bend and twist as Charmander turned the stone over and over. Rita smiled and blushed a little at how Charmander seemed to like the gift.

"Where did you even find this?"

"Like I said, I just had it lying around back home, and-"

"Home?" Charmander asked.

"Well, duh! I had to live _somewhere_ before meeting you, right? It's at Sharpedo Bluff. Maybe I can show you sometime!"

"Okay," Charmander looked one last time at the gift Rita had given him before he put it away for safekeeping. "Thanks again. But... you didn't have to get me a gift just because we were together for a week."

"W-What?!" Rita asked, slightly taken aback. "You don't like it?"

"No! That's not what I meant." Charmander quickly said. "I mean, I love it, but we've only been a team for a week. If it was, say, a year, I would have understood, but a week?"

Rita blushed hard.

_She's doing it again!_

"W-Well-" she started.

"Y'know what? Never mind." Charmander said, smiling. "If you don't want to, you don't have to answer it. Just know that I'm flattered for the gift, so... thanks. Again."

Rita chuckled, relieved. Charmander put on his cyan scarf before saying, "Now let's get to the morning briefing before Loudred screams our ears off."

They quickly made their way to the briefing, where Chatot said he had another announcement. For some reason, Team Skull was standing next to him.

"Attention, I have an announcement!" Chatot announced at the briefing. "These three here beside me are a team known as Team Skull."

"Whoa-ho-ho! Name's Koffing."

"Heh-heh-heh! Zubat here. Glad to meetcha."

"And me, their leader, Skuntank. Remember it. _Especially_," Skuntank glared at Charmander and Rita. "You two."

Rita looked away, while Charmander glared right back at Skuntank with ferocity. Chatot cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, as I was saying, this team here will be accompanying us on our upcoming expedition!"

"_What_!?" Charmander and Rita exclaimed at the same time.

"Team Skye!" Chatot said, annoyed.

"Chaw-haw-haw! It's alright, Chatot." Skuntank said. "We just got off on a bad foot with those two, but I assure you, we're trying our hardest to make up with them. They just don't seem to listen to reason though." Skuntank smirked at Charmander and Rita when Chatot wasn't looking.

_Those damned...!_ Charmander began calling Team Skull some very vulgar things inside his head, and took all his willpower not to say them out loud.

"Very well." Chatot said, continuing. "Team Skye, please try your best to contain whatever hatred you may hold for Team Skull."

No response on Team Skye's part.

"Moving on, this team had already begun living with us since yesterday. So I'm sure many of you have already gotten yourselves acquaintance with the team."

The rest of the guild members began mumbling with one another. Many of the statements they had about Team Skull weren't exactly pleasant. Charmander was thrilled at the negative looks everybody seemed to have on the team.

"The Guildmaster believes that the addition of these three will help aid in our expedition, so I hope all of you are ecstatic in knowing that we'll have some extra support in our upcoming expedition. In the mean time, I hope all of you treat our guests with hospitality. Now, let's make today another good work day!"  
"... Hooray." Everyone said quietly.

Chatot was shocked, and visibly showed that he was taken aback. "What? Where's your usual spirit?"

"This STINKS!" Loudred yelled. Charmander was shocked that Loudred just up and said his opinion like that. That's something that Charmander would've said himself, if Chatot wasn't in the way of expressing his opinion. Loudred continued to complain, "How can you expect us to be cheerful, when..."

Suddenly, the entire guild began to shake. "Whoa whoa!" Charmander exclaimed.

"Charmander!" Rita shouted desperately, holding on to Charmander. The rest of the guild members weren't doing any better, nearly falling over a couple of times.

"YOOM..." Wigglytuff shouted in a large, impending voice. "YOOOOOOM..."

"Oh, no! Oh no oh no oh no!" Chatot said nervously. "The Guildmaster's rage is building! If he manages to get angry enough... Everybody, quick! Be cheerful, even if it hurts!" Chatot quickly put on an obviously fake smile. "Okay everyone! Let's make today another good work day!"

"HOORAY!" Everyone shouted a _bit_ louder than usual. The shaking suddenly stopped, and Wigglytuff said "That's better!"

"Well, glad we got that settled." Skuntank said, who seemed to have regained his composure first. "We're glad to have made your acquaintance, chaw-haw-haw!" Skuntank and his cronies exited the room, followed by Zubat and Koffing, who were quietly saying "Heh heh heh," and "Whoa-ho-ho,"

_What the heck just happened?_ Charmander thought. Once everybody had regained their composure, they all went about their business, and Rita let go of Charmander.

"That was... interesting." Rita said.

"Yeah... anyways, we should go upstairs and see what jobs-"

"_What_?!" a voice suddenly interrupted Charmander. Charmander and Rita looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a flustered Chatot speaking with Chimecho.

"D-Did you just say," Chatot continued, "That our supply of Perfect Apples are... gone?!"

"Yes sir," Chimecho said. "All of our Perfect Apples just disappeared. The rest of our food stock is also missing, but our stock of Perfect Apples were the only ones wiped clean." Chimecho fidgeted nervously. "I'll just go back into the kitchen and see what I can make with our limited rations," Chimecho said, floating back into the Mess Hall, leaving Chatot to his own devices.

"Oh no. If the Guildmaster doesn't get his Perfect Apple..." Chatot muttered to himself.

"Um, Chatot?" Rita asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just..."

"We heard something about Perfect Apples begin raided. What are those?" Rita asked. Charmander was slightly surprised that there was something Rita didn't know about.

"Perfect Apples," Chatot explained. "Are large and very delicious apples. But most importantly, they're the Guildmaster's favorite food! If the Guildmaster didn't get at least one Perfect Apple for dinner today, he would... erk!"

"Go on. He would...?" Rita beckoned.

"He would..." Chatot muttered something very quietly under his breath, so much that Charmander and Rita couldn't hear him. "... yes, that's what would happen."

"Can you say that aga-"

"I think it's best that we don't find out, Rita." Charmander interrupted. "After seeing what he was like just a few seconds ago, I don't think I'd want to know how he's like from starvation."

"Oooookay." Rita said. "Well, Chatot, is there anything we can do to help?"

"No no, I'm afraid-" Chatot suddenly perked up, a smile coming onto his face. "Actually, yes! There is! Deep in Apple Woods, Perfect Apples can be found. I just need one, just one! We should be able to get more by tomorrow, but please-!"

"Alright, alright!" Rita interrupted. "Where's Apple Woods?"

Chatot marked the location on their Wonder Map. The location was far to the northeast, a little south of Mt. Bristle.

"Now, this may seem like a simple errand," Chatot said. "But it's nothing like that. This is a _crucial_ mission. If you don't get back a Perfect Apple by dinner..." Chatot shuddered. "So please don't fail!"

"Right!" Rita said. "Alright Charmander, let's get to work!"

* * *

"So basically, we're here to get a delicious snack for your Guildmaster?" Wooper recapped.

"Pretty much," Charmander. "And here we are now. This must be Apple Woods."

Like it's name, Apple Woods was a large forest, but it wasn't a thick forest shrouded in darkness, but instead, it was a light forest with plenty of sunlight streaming through the leaves. Also, like it's name, there were apples _everywhere_. Charmander and Wooper were mesmerized.

"So..."

"Many..."

"Apples!" Charmander and Wooper ran around, picking off all of the apples off of nearby trees.

"Will you two cut it?" Rita asked, slightly annoyed. "We're here on an important mission, and it might help to boost our chances at getting picked for the expedition, so if we all focus and- are you two even listening to me?!"

"Look Wooper! These apples are shaped funny. Do you think they're poisonous?" Charmander said, looking at a bushel of oval-shaped apples.

"One way to find out!" Wooper was about to bite into one of the apples, when suddenly he and Charmander were whipped by Rita. And it hurt.

"Ow!" Charmander pouted. "You could be a little softer, y'know."

"Well, you two need to stay on our task! The day's halfway gone, and who knows how long it'll take to get through this mystery dungeon." Rita said.

"Wait, this is a mystery dungeon?" Charmander asked.

"Well, just look!" Rita said, beckoning towards the entrance of the dungeon. Strangely enough, the roots of the tress seemed to form a staircase to what Charmander assumed was the first floor of the dungeon.

"How does that even work?" Charmander asked.

"If they get out of hand, mystery dungeons can appear anywhere, even at the guild. I know that a mystery dungeon once appeared in Treasure Town, but Marowak was able to make a profit off of that dungeon by making it a dojo of sorts... You two aren't listening to again, are you?"

"They're not poisonous! We can- Ow!" Wooper exclaimed, wincing when Rita lashed out a second time.

"Alright, we get it!" Charmander said quickly. _Jeez, it'd be nice of she used those whips on enemies, not us... Guess that's just what friends do._ "C'mon Wooper."

The three of them made their way into Apple Woods. Sadly (at least for Charmander and Wooper), the apples on the trees were too high up in the branches to reach, and the only apples they managed to find were ones lying on the floor.

The dungeon was a breeze of Charmander, due to the fact that most of enemies were grass and bug types. Rita found the dungeon okay, but Wooper had the hardest time of the three of them, leaving Charmander to protect him from all of the grass types in the dungeon.

Eventually, after traversing twelve floors of the dungeon, they came into a small clearing in the forest with a large tree at the center.

"We've been exploring for a few hours now," Rita said. "Could this be the deepest part of the woods?"

"What's that giant tree in the center?" Charmander said. The three of them walked up to the tree. They looked up, and high up on the branches were large, shiny red apples.

"Up there! Those apples look deeeelicious!" Wooper exclaimed.

"Those must be the Perfect Apples." Rita said, slightly disappointed. "But... how do we reach them. They're so high up.

"Chaw-haw-haw! That's child play!" a voice suddenly spoke up

"W-Who said that?" Charmander demanded.

Skuntank, Koffing, and Zubat emerged from behind the tree and stepped towards the three of them. Charmander, Rita, And Wooper all instinctively took a few steps back.

"You followed us!" Rita exclaimed.

"Well, we heard you squirts were trying to find some Perfect Apples, so we thought we may as well tag along!" Skuntank said boastfully.

"Charmander? Rita?" Wooper asked. "Who are these mean Pokémon?"

Skuntank glanced at Wooper, and beamed a cruel smile. "Oh, so you've added another member to your pathetic team? He looks weak, but I guess that's to be expected from a weak team such as yours."

Wooper was shocked. Never in his entire life had he met a Pokémon that so bluntly called him weak. Jolly Wooper was gone. Now, there was only serious, aggravated Wooper.

"That's Team Skull, Wooper." Charmander explained, but not taking his eyes off of Skuntank. "Rita and I had some... strained relations with them." Wooper nodded his head in affirmation.

"We only want the Perfect Apples for the guild." Rita said. She wasn't afraid anymore. She knew these Pokémon, and she knew that they were low, snobbish Pokémon, and that she had no reason to be afraid of crooks like these Pokémon. Now only courage remained in Rita.

"Now, why don't you listen to us first, then let your traps speak, heh heh heh." Zubat snickered.

"Like we said, getting these apples is child's play. Just watch." Skuntank said. He faced the tree, and rammed his head right into the trunk. The entire tree shook, and a single Perfect Apple dropped right in front of Skuntank. He ate it in a single bite.

"H-Hey! We needed an apple for the Guildmaster!" Charmander said upon seeing Skuntank gulp down the apple.

"That's not my problem." Skuntank said smugly. "Besides, I heard that you three could get into a bit of trouble if you don't manage to get a Perfect Apple back to the guild."

"That's not fair!" Charmander argued. "We're only trying to help our guild, and as guest members, you should be helping too!"

Koffing snorted. "Whoa-ho. I think you and the girl already know well enough that our methods aren't very traditional."

Charmander remembered back to last week when Koffing and Zubat had stolen Rita's Relic Fragment just for a profit. The thought made the flame on his tail blaze brighter than ever before.

"Fine, if you three are _so_ serious." Skuntank said. "How about we make a deal. If somehow you manage to defeat us in battle, then we might help you with your problem with the Perfect Apples." Skuntank snorted at his own remark. "Of course, weaklings like you could never defeat us."

"What did you say?!" Rita shouted, vines floating threateningly at her sides. If looks could kill, Skuntank and his cronies would have been over-killed long ago.

Wooper continued to glare angrily at Team Skull. He may not know who these Pokémon are, but the way they treated Team Skye told him they were anything but good Pokémon.

And as for Charmander, he felt a suppressed rage inside of him growing and growing, like a flame ready to wreck havoc if it got out of control. He couldn't understand why these three Pokémon had to keep antagonizing their team so much, but it made Charmander feel a form of anger that couldn't be put into words.

"You heard me!" Skuntank taunted. "Weaklings, cowards, chickens. You couldn't even eat one of us if you tried! If you _really_ think you can defeat us, then come at us! Chaw-haw-haw!"

All fear was gone. Now there was only courage and an anger ready to be released in Team Skye. The three of them took a single step forward towards Team Skull and yelled simultaneously "You're on!"

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Aren't I cruel?**

**Anyways, I guess I should explain the two and a half week hiatus, huh? Well, to put it simply, I didn't want to post anything until I actually finished the game first, 'cause there are a LOT of plot twists in the game, and it was causing me to have to keep changing the original plot I had in mind for the story. Although, don't expect that I'll be going back into a nice, orderly writing schedule from now on. I'll be busy due to the fact that the end of the school year is almost here. That being said, I did finish the game, a day before this chapter was posted. All I have to say is, that was one of the best stories I have ever seen in a videogame, or maybe just any story in general, ever. I'm pretty sure most of you reading this fanfic have already played and beat the game, but if you haven't, then you really have to. Amazing story, really, and that's all I'll say about it, so I don't accidentally say any spoilers.**

**As for other things about the story, I think I might change the rating from K+ to T, mainly because that K+ rating is sorta restricting my writing. Also, I'm going to have Charmander reveal his true name soon. While you're probably all whooping for joy, I'm still down in the dumps for being an idiot and naming the main character off of my real name... Anyways, hope you all enjoyed these two chapters, and also because I'm still shameless, please leave reviews and especially criticism on what you thought about these chapters!**


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